A recent study done by
a research team led by Daniel Notterman examined the genetic effects of
stressful upbringings. They examined 40 9-year-old black boys and found that
those who grew up in disadvantaged environments have 19 percent shorter
telomeres than their advantaged peers. Telomeres are DNA sequences which
live at the end of each chromosome, protecting the ends from damage and vary in
length by person, and shrink with age. They also reported that boys with genetic sensitivities to
their environment have shorter telomeres after experiencing stressful social environments
tha the telomeres of boys without the genetic sensitivities.
Notterman
and his team limited there sample size to those that had given saliva samples
at age 9, those who had black or African American mothers, and those who had
provided complete information about their social environments. Of the 40 boys,
half were raised in disadvantaged environments which was characterized as low household
income, low maternal education, an unstable family structure and harsh
parenting. Another Professor who studies population health stated that this
work adds to the growing body of research related to the role of chronic stress
in health inequalities, especially among the poor.
I think this is a wonderful study because there are
too few studies focused on African American children in this context. This type
of study really highlights the importance of early intervention to moderate
disparities in social and educational opportunities because it really is
shocking how profound the effect is by such a young age. At just 9 years of age
these genetic effects from chronic stress are already prevalent and may lead to
accelerated aging and higher susceptibility to illnesses. It’s also a very
interesting fact that this study was done using saliva rather than blood. This
innovation can lead to more simplistic studies of our telomeres at various
points in time and can indicate how our social environment may affecting our
DNA. In my opinion any further research that increases our knowledge of how
these telomeres and how they affect our body is exciting because knowing more
about a potential biological clock can have a profound results.
Many people believe that stress is the cause of many deaths, in that being said it also can cause birth defects depending on the type of stress one person is going through.
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