Telomeres and aging

Your telomeres are at the ends of your chromosomes. Different things will make these shorter and when they are gone then that cell will die - which means that you are aging.

For example, oxidative stress (free radicals) and chronic inflammation reduces the lenght of the telomeres which means that it will accelerate aging and promote development of chronic diseases.

A study also shows that vitamin D deficiency (brist) can make telomeres shorter which could be equivalent to 5 years of telomeric aging. (Richards JB et al Am J Clin Nutr 2007;86:1420-1425)