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Having more children could have an effect on rate of aging says new research

生孩子越多，老得越慢

New research suggests that the number of children a woman could affect the rate at which her body ages, with more children leading to a slower rate of biological aging.

新研究表明女性生育孩子的數量可能會影響身體衰老的速度，孩子越多，生理衰老的速度將會越慢。

A team of researchers from Simon Fraser University, Canada, looked at 75 indigenous Guatemalan women from two neighboring rural communities and collected data on the number of children the women had given birth to.

加拿大西蒙弗雷澤大學的一組研究人員,觀察了75名土著危地馬拉女性，她們來自兩個鄰近農村社區，并收集了這些女性生育孩子的數據。

To find a link between number of children and the rate of biological aging, the team also looked at the length of each woman’s telomeres, the protective tips found at the end of each DNA strand that indicate how cells are aging. The longer the cells, the better it is for aging and longevity.

為了找到生育孩子的數量與生理衰老速度的關系，研究小組同樣研究了每位女性染色體端粒的長度，每個DNA鏈末端發現的保護提示顯示細胞如何衰老。細胞越長，越有助于延年益壽。

To assess the length of the women’s telomeres the team took saliva samples and DNA swabs from the inside of the cheek. A second set of samples was collected 13 years later.

為了評估女性染色體端粒的長度，研究小組抽取了唾液樣本以及臉頰內側的DNA樣本。13年之后收集了第二組樣品。

In the first study to look at a direct link between the length of telomeres and the number of children, the results showed that the women who gave birth to more surviving children had longer telomeres, going against the theory that producing a larger number of offspring speeds up biological aging.

在觀察染色體端粒的長度與孩子數量的第一項研究中，結果表明，女性生下的孩子、并且能夠活下來越多，她們的染色體端粒就越長，這便與這樣的理論相悖，即生育的孩子較多將加速生理的衰老。

The researchers believe that these results could be explained by two factors.

研究人員認為，這些結果可能由兩個因素來解釋。

As the women were from communities where mothers receive a large amount of social support from friends and family, this could enable the body to devote more of its energy to looking after and maintaining body tissue, therefore slowing down the biological aging process. However although this level of support is a social norm for communities where the study took place, it may not be seen across all cultures or societies.

當女性是來自這些社區，即母親們會得到來自朋友與家庭較多的社會性幫助，這將使她們身體的更多精力用于照顧、維持機體組織，因此減緩生理衰老的過程。然而，在進行研究的社區，這種程度的支持雖然是一種社會規范，但是可能在所有的文化或者社會中并不常見。

In addition, the results could be explained by the primary female sex hormone estrogen, which has a strong antioxidant effect on the body. Levels of estrogen rise significantly during pregnancy, leading the researchers to believe that it thanks to its antioxidant effect, estrogen may protect the mother’s cells against telomere shortening.

此外, 女性主要荷爾蒙雌激素可以解釋這樣的結果， 因其對身體具有強大的抗氧化作用。懷孕期間雌激素水平大幅上升,使研究人員相信正是其抗氧化作用,雌激素可以保護母親們的細胞免于染色體端�？s短。