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Scientists: the older the father, the longer the children live
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
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Men who put off having children for a long time now have a compelling argument in favor of such a delay: American scientists have come to the conclusion that the older the child's father, the higher the child's chances of living a long life.
Late fatherhood brings benefits for the survival of offspring: children and grandchildren of mature men appear to be "genetically programmed" to live longer, according to the results of a study by a team of scientists from the United States.
The results of the work were published in the latest issue of the leading American scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
However, it is unclear whether these benefits will be offset by other problems associated with late reproduction.
Short telomeres - short life
Scientists have known for some time that there is a link between lifespan and the size of structures called telomeres, which are found at the ends of chromosomes. Telomeres store genetic information - DNA. In general, shorter telomeres mean a shorter life.
Telomeres serve to protect chromosomes from damage. In most cells, they become shorter with age until the cells eventually lose their ability to reproduce.
However, as scientists have discovered, sperm telomeres become longer with age.
And because men pass their DNA to their children through sperm, these long telomeres can be inherited by the next generation.
Dr. Dan Eisenberg and colleagues from the Department of Anthropology at Northwestern University in Illinois studied how telomeres are passed down through generations in a group of young people living in the Philippines.
It was found that telomeres measured in the subjects' blood samples were longer the older their fathers were when the children were born.
Telomere lengthening was even greater if the child's paternal grandfather also became a father at a later age.
Benefit or harm?
It is known that late fatherhood increases the risk of premature birth, but despite this, the authors of the study believe that in the long term it brings benefits to the health of the offspring.
Scientists believe that inheriting longer telomeres will be particularly beneficial for tissues and biological functions that involve rapid cell growth and renewal, such as the immune system, digestive tract and skin.
And this could have a significant effect on the health of the population as a whole, says Professor Thomas von Zglinicki, an expert in cellular ageing at Newcastle University: "The longer paternal ancestors delay having children, the longer the telomeres passed on to their offspring. This has the potential to increase the average lifespan of a population as members live longer to reproduce later in life."
More research is needed, the professor said: "Very few studies that link telomere length to health in adulthood examine the effect, if any, of parental age. It is still not entirely clear what has the greatest impact on age-related diseases and mortality - parental telomere length at conception (birth) or the rate of telomere shortening with age."
Von Zglinicki points out that the authors of the study did not look at the health of the first generation of offspring. According to him, it is possible that the advantages associated with receiving longer telomeres from an older father will be reduced to nothing or even completely crossed out due to problems with higher levels of overall DNA damage and sperm mutations.
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