Women who have given birth to a child in the fifth or sixth decade, on average, live longer than others. Published results of a study conducted by scientists from the University of Utah, USA, show that their brothers also live longer, but not the wives of their brothers. This is because the same genes are responsible for both life expectancy and duration of fertile age.

"If women in your family give birth at an older age, your chances of longevity are better than those of others," says the demographer Ken R. Smith, the head of the research group. "If you have a relative who gave birth to a child after 45 years, then perhaps your family has a good heredity that promises you a long life".

Scientists have drawn for their research a university database on the population of Utah, which contains data on 1.6 million Mormons and their descendants, and also used the Demographic Historical Research Program of the University of Montreal with its 400,000. records of the inhabitants of Catholic Quebec, Canada, from 1608 to 1850. Particular attention was paid to 11,604 men who lived in the state of Utah from 1800 to 1869. , in which at least one sister survived to 50 years, and 6206 Quebec men with the same family circumstances, who lived between 1670 and 1750. The results of the study are as follows:.

Women with "late fertility" - giving birth at age 45 and later - were likely to die in each subsequent year after the 50th anniversary of the year by 14-17% less than those who did not give birth after 40 years. These data confirmed the results of earlier studies. However, those studies could not determine whether this factor depends on genetic features or on the influence of the environment: lifestyle and nutrition.

Men who had at least three sisters, among whom at least one gave birth later than 45 years, were likely to die 20-22% less each year after their 50th birthday than those who had no late sisters. This shows that the same gene can be responsible for both the life span of both sexes, and for the length of the childbearing age of women.

The brothers' wives did not differ from other women in life expectancy, than the genetic explanation of the longevity of the brothers of the late women.

Thus, according to Smith, "we can consider as proven what was argued by many genetics:

there is a connection between the reproductive function of the animal organism and its viability, including longevity. This was established on the example of human life in the era when there were no modern contraceptives ".

Nevertheless, the speech in the study is only about those women who conceived and carried the child naturally. Since late birth carries a certain danger for both the woman and the future child, many doctors demand to tighten the rules of in vitro fertilization for the age-old women.

sportzal. com.