Pregnancy May Accelerate Biological Ageing In Young Women, Says Study

Women make a lot of sacrifices for their children. Now, a new study has revealed that pregnancy can speed up ageing in young mothers. Researchers at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University in New York examined the reproductive histories and DNA samples of 1,735 participants in a long-term, ongoing health study conducted in the Philippines to examine the impact of childbearing on the ageing process, as per The Guardian.

Six distinct "epigenetic clocks," or genetic instruments that gauge biological age based on patterns of a process known as DNA methylation, were used to calculate the ages. Every pregnancy a woman reported was associated with an extra two to three months of biological ageing, as per the study which involved 825 young women. Women who reported more pregnancies over a six-year follow-up period also demonstrated a greater increase in biological ageing during that time. Thus, they found women who had been pregnant in the past looked "biologically older" than those who had never carried a child.

Even after the investigators took into consideration the participants' environment, smoking habits, socioeconomic level, and genetic diversity, the associations between pregnancy and biological ageing remained the same.

Notably, the effect was not reported among men, who were fathers. This suggests that the effect is associated with pregnancy or breastfeeding.

"Our findings suggest that pregnancy speeds up biological ageing, and that these effects are apparent in young, high-fertility women. Our results are also the first to follow the same women through time, linking changes in each woman's pregnancy number to changes in her biological age," said Calen Ryan, the lead author and an associate research scientist in the Columbia Aging Center.

He also called the finding "remarkable" as pregnancy is linked to changes at the molecular level. "It highlights how we have been overlooking pregnancy and other key aspects of women's health when we study the ageing process," Mr Ryan told Fox News.

According to Mr Ryan, the overall effects were minimal and might be associated with high fertility, inconsistent access to healthcare, and nutrition. "We still have a lot to learn about the role of pregnancy and other aspects of reproduction in the aging process," he added.

It is unknown how rapid ageing will affect women's health and death as they grow old. "The message here is not all doom and gloom - but it does highlight the fact that we've been so focused on outcomes for infants that we often forget to take care of the moms. Strong medical, social and nutritional support for new moms is always the best policy over the long run," Mr Ryan said. 

The findings of the study have been published in the 'Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences'.