The tireless British scientists came to some surprising conclusions; as it turns out, the number of moles may be a good indicator of the body’s rate of aging.
The scientists counted moles on bodies of 900 participants and they also measured the length of the telomeres in the moles’ cells. Telomeres are the end fragments of chromosomes responsible for protecting DNA from damages.
Length of telomeres in generally considered to be the main indicator of the body’s rate of aging. Respectively, the longer they are, the slower the organism ages. Thus, they found out that cells of people who have over 100 moles are roughly 6-7 years “younger” than those of people who don’t have that many moles.
The findings are quite unexpected, as it was formerly believed that people who have excess moles on their body have higher chances of developing skin cancer – melanoma.
According to Veronique Bataille, the author of the study, people with large number of moles indeed face a small risk of malignant tumors, however they have reduced chances of age-related diseases, such as heart illness, blood vessels malfunction, or joints disease.
Source of the image: flickr.com/photos/deborapollon.
