Toxins in the environment might make you older than your years

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-05/cp-tit052014.php

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 28-May-2014
Contact: Mary Beth O'Leary
Cell Press
Toxins in the environment might make you older than your years

Why are some 75-year-olds downright spry while others can barely get around? Part of the explanation, say researchers writing in the Cell Press journal Trends in Molecular Medicine on May 28, is differences from one person to the next in exposure to harmful substances in the environment, chemicals such as benzene, cigarette smoke, and even stress.

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From a public health perspective, cigarette smoke is likely the most important gerontogen, Sharpless said. Cigarettes are linked with cancers but also with atherosclerosis, pulmonary fibrosis, and other diseases associated with age. UV radiation from the sun makes us older too, and Sharpless and his colleagues recently showed that chemotherapy treatment is also a strong gerontogen.

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