As we get older, our bodies change. That’s just a fact of life and one that I take with a grain of salt. It reminds me of how many years I’ve been lucky enough to live on this planet (68 and counting).

But those changes can be accompanied by health problems we’d like to avoid — like osteoporosis, heart disease, diabetes, even cancer.

The good news is that we have more control than we realize over how fast our bodies age and whether we succumb to the “diseases of aging.”

And it all starts with our telomeres…

What are telomeres?

Your telomeres are the part of your chromosomes that’s associated with cellular aging.

Think of telomeres as that hard tip on the end of your shoelace that keeps it from unraveling. Telomeres sit at the ends of your chromosomes and protect them from damage.

As cells divide, telomeres become shorter and shorter until the cell can no longer divide. This triggers apoptosis — or cell death.

This is a natural part of aging. But as this happens to your white blood cells, it can leave you open to frailty and disease.

Osteoporosis shortens telomeres

A group of Korean researchers set out to determine whether having osteoporosis is associated with how fast telomeres shorten.

They measured telomere length in the white blood cells of a group of subjects aged 55 to 88, some of whom had osteoporosis and some of whom did not.

They took this measurement at baseline (at the start of the study in 2014) and again two years later.

They discovered that independent of other factors, telomeres shortened significantly faster over those two years in subjects who had osteoporosis than those who didn’t.

But why is this the case?

Inflammation and telomeres

It’s already been proven that inflammation increases the rate at which telomeres shrink.

And the most up-to-date research also attributes osteoporosis to an increase in inflammation. It suggests that inflammation exerts significant influence on bone turnover, including the development of osteoporosis.

As we age, our bodies produce more pro-inflammatory cytokines. And, the link between this age-related inflammation (often called “inflamm-aging”) and osteoporosis has been well documented.

Inflammation: the common denominator

The science connecting inflammation to both osteoporosis and shorter telomeres appears strong. But if you’re not sure that inflammation is affecting you, see if you can check off any of these unusual signs of chronic inflammation.

Changing your diet is a good place to start to douse it. An alkaline diet helps cut down on acid production which leads to inflammation in the body. Also, consider supplementing with black cumin seed. It’s a powerful anti-inflammatory and also helps burn fat — and here’s why that matters…

Being obese shortens telomeres. So to avoid weight gain, or work on losing it now, make sure movement is part of your routine.

One way to do that is to walk — and not only would you be getting exercise for weight maintenance, but walking will have a direct impact on the connection between telomeres and osteoporosis…

Everyone knows exercise, including walking improves bone density. But researchers found that a faster walking pace was associated with longer telomeres — regardless of the amount of physical activity — and could translate to the equivalent of turning your biological age back 16 years!

I’ve mentioned before that my mom lived to 100, so I put to use much of what I write about here. I hope it helps you too.

Sources:

Association between osteoporosis and telomere shortening — Eureka Alert

Association between osteoporosis and the rate of telomere shortening — Aging

Osteoporosis and inflammation — Brazilian Archives of Endocrinology and Metabolism

The regulatory feedback of inflammatory signaling and telomere/telomerase complex dysfunction in chronic inflammatory diseases — Experimental Gerontology