Pregnancy adds years to a woman’s biological age; but don’t fret: this process can be reversed!
Cell Metabolism conducted a new study that analyzed blood samples taken from 120 women during various points during gestation and three months post delivery, to analyze DNA methylation patterns.
More often a woman had been pregnant, the higher her biological age would have been; however, after giving birth this reverses itself.
Biological Age
Pregnancy has long been known to speed up biological aging by up to two years; however, according to research published this year in Cell Metabolism it may reverse this effect. Researchers gathered blood samples from 120 women during various stages of their pregnancies and three months postpartum to measure epigenetic changes; they discovered that those pregnant experienced higher biological ages, but these effects reversed completely post-birth for exclusively breastfeeding women.
Biological age, which is determined using DNA methylation patterns, measures how old you are at the molecular level. It provides more accurate results than chronological age calculations which take into account factors like your birthday and number of chromosomes you possess. Your biological age can be affected by diet, exercise, stress levels and lifestyle choices as well as health conditions like cancer or heart disease.
Researchers use methylation patterns to estimate a woman’s biological age, then compare this number with her chronological age to understand how quickly her body is aging. Yale researchers concluded that pregnancy speeded up biological aging; however, their study only collected blood samples during and after one pregnancy – making it impossible to know if multiple pregnancies can reverse biological aging at once or other factors like weight, exercise and diet are involved.
Dena Dubal at the University of California, San Francisco used a different approach to determine whether biological age could be reversed. She gave nine healthy volunteers growth hormone and two diabetes medications over one year and saw their biological ages drop an average of 2.5 years, though her results may have been more complex than Ryan team’s findings but still hopeful.
Both studies should be understood as early investigations; further scientific investigation may take years for scientists to fully grasp how pregnancy influences cellular aging. But they provide important clues that could enable researchers to devise treatments to slow or even reverse pregnancy-associated accelerated aging.
Epigenetic Age
Pregnancy can be an incredible source of stress for our bodies and causes them to age more rapidly than usual. This process is measured through epigenetics – chemical markers on DNA which open or close certain genes so they can be translated into RNA by cells for execution by cells; epigenetics can be affected by factors like diet, sleep quality, exercise regimes, smoking and alcohol intake among others.
Cell Metabolism published a study showing that pregnancy increases women’s epigenetic age by roughly two years. But upon revisiting blood samples three months post delivery, researchers saw their epigenetic age had returned to its initial state – even more markedly among breastfeeding mothers! These results add further evidence of molecular aging being nonlinear and not always going in one direction.
Scientists can analyze a person’s epigenetic age by looking at specific chemical groups attached to our DNA that determine how accessible our genes are. These epigenetic markers, called methyl groups, do not alter genetic code itself but influence which parts are turned on or off; environmental factors including diet, sleep and exercise habits as well as neighborhood/zip codes all play a part in how many methyl groups exist within an individual’s system.
Researchers conducted a new study analyzing methyl groups on DNA of people who had multiple pregnancies and found that each pregnany caused her epigenetic clock to tick faster. Scientists hypothesize this may be because pregnancy causes our cells to work harder to support both its own development as well as immune defense mechanisms in its support of its offspring.
The team also investigated factors that may influence epigenetics, such as body weight and breastfeeding. Their researchers discovered that pregnancy did not significantly increase epigenetic age acceleration for mothers of any weight; instead, duration of breastfeeding had more of an effect on it than weight did. They intend to conduct follow-up studies comparing biological age before and after pregnancy to chronological age for more clarity.
Body Weight
Many women believe pregnancy ages them, and although some research does support the claim that one pregnancy accelerates biological aging in some women, other studies provide conflicting conclusions. According to Ryan’s paper and another recent research paper from Yale School of Medicine’s Cell Metabolism study published last November, pregnancy may hasten biological aging for some women; however, much of this accelerated aging appears to reverse itself at least three months post delivery.
Researchers from Yale conducted an experiment where they examined blood samples taken from 125 women before, during, and post pregnancy from these same 125 women to analyze signs of cellular aging in women who had become pregnant multiple times over. It was discovered that women whose pregnancies exceeded three showed faster signs of cellular aging; with each pregnancy cycle being associated with shorter telomere length which indicates greater cell degeneration.
Researchers were stunned to find that pregnancy does not cause permanent biological aging effects, after analyzing blood samples of pregnant women again three months postpartum and finding their biological age had actually decreased significantly; particularly evident among those who breastfed.
Researchers still aren’t certain why some women’s cells appear to age more rapidly after pregnancy than others’, though stress and environmental factors could play a part in it. Yet the reversal of aging seen postpartum suggests it may be possible to “turn back time”, providing valuable lessons for future pregnancies.
Breastfeeding
Scientists conducted a new study which discovered that breastfeeding may help reverse some of the aging effects associated with pregnancy. When they compared blood samples from pregnant and breastfeeding women, scientists discovered that brains of those who breastfed on average five years younger than non-breastfeeding counterparts postpartum; this phenomenon was even noticeable late postpartum! Scientists believe this result may be due to an immediate rejuvenation effect post-birth but are unclear on its long-term longevity or permanent nature.
This research, published in Cell Metabolism, follows on previous studies showing pregnancy accelerated cellular aging. But researchers were surprised to find that much of it reversed postpartum for women who breastfed. This indicates molecular aging doesn’t progress linearly but may actually be reversible like other stressors such as Covid-19 or infections have demonstrated.
In this study, researchers analyzed data from 108 887 premenopausal women. They studied factors such as parity, age at first birth, breastfeeding status and duration to attempt to explain any correlations between children a woman has and early natural menopause risk. It turned out that both birthing age and duration played key roles in explaining this relationship; both had major impactful results when looking at maternal parity in relation to early natural menopause risk.
However, this research can only tell part of the tale; more work needs to be done to understand its full significance. Yet its results are encouraging as they indicate that much of the aging experienced during pregnancy and childbirth appears to reverse itself after giving birth – an exciting finding with potential implications for early menopause risk reduction and family planning decisions. It will be intriguing to see whether further studies that compare molecular age pre and post pregnancy, or between types of childbirth can confirm or refute it.
