Double Feature: The Mamas & The Papas

If you are a regular reader, you may have wondered what happened to the May edition of the newsletter and why we are halfway to June. As an example of walking the talk, I had to recharge, relax, and renew, which meant letting some things go. #longevity and #health and especially #mentalhealth are crucial to maintain for #wellbeing. And if it means some deadlines are missed, so be it. The world has not ended, thank goodness! The good news is, that now that I have been recharged, we can resume with even more goodies!

May celebrates moms and June celebrates dads. In this edition of the newsletter, we will look some longevity topics related to our parents.

Motherhood

1. Human moms are really special! In most of the animal kingdom, lifespan is highly connected to reproductive ability. Humans are unique among primates and many other creatures in that our females live well past their reproductive years. How and why this is, is still a bit of a mystery, with the Grandmother Hypothesis being a prevailing adaptive explanation.
2. You got it from your momma. While both mom and dad contribute to your genetic makeup, you get a few more benefits from mom.

>If you breastfed, you had lower risk of complications.

>Vaginal births pass microbiome protections to infants

>A lot happens during gestation

3. Helping at-risk mothers could boost population life expectancy. Unfortunately there are disparities among maternal mortality, and the trend has not been favorable (predating the pandemic).

A little can go a long way in relieving these stats. #Nutrition and Community support are a couple of low cost interventions.

Fatherhood

1 - Father Time: While arguably "gross and creepy" men can become fathers at any age, although the likelihood does decrease over time.

Many studies show a longevity benefit to having kids (for both parents). However a recent study observed that male eunuchs outlived their peers by about a decade. This may point to the role of testosterone in shaping lifespan, and it seems to follow a Goldilocks rule - not too much, not too little, just right.

The classic tale of Peter Pan certainly has tons of messages about parenting, but in Disney's adaptation, "Hook", it is interesting that the never aging Pan's happy thought is to become a dad!

2-I Am Your Father

Looking at the other partner in a traditional parenting pair, what sorts of #longevity elements are inherited or attributable to dads?

• The Y Chromosome: Unique to sons, this chromosome controls anatomy, fertility, and a couple of other odd items like webbed-toes and ear hair.
• The X Chromosome: For daughters, any X-dominant trait from dad can be inherited, and recessive traits (like red-green color blindness) depend on what mom passes down.
• Growth Hormone: While both mom and dad contribute to growth, the paternal side is the "on" switch for growth rates. And when it comes to longevity, modulation of the growth rates of genes is a huge area of research.

3. Dad Bods

The health of men in the US, and in other parts of the world, has faced challenges for some time. Drug and alcohol use, along with higher rates of obesity are among the prevailing risk factors currently affecting men potentially leading to suicides, cardiac events, and possibly cancers. The kinds of things that Longevity Assistant promotes, like activity, nutrition, and connection have potential to mitigate some level of these preventable deaths.

Hereditary Longevity

As we observed with Jean Calment earlier this year, she came from a family of long lived individuals. Your lifespan will be a product of nature AND nurture. (Possibly 25%/75% per a Danish study of twins)

Beyond the genetic code, recent science is considering if epigenetic information (particularly trauma) could also be passed down through the generations.

More on genetics and epigenetics was covered in the first edition of 2023.

23 Tidbits About the Human Genome

Family Structures and Longevity

Families can come in all shapes and sizes, from single moms to multigenerational households. For a neat visualization, browse the fantastic work from Flowing Data.

Perhaps not surprisingly, some data suggests that is hasn't been great for longevity of the children of divorced parents. However, this is a bit hard to study since the stigma of divorce has been changing over time, support for single parents is increasing, and in some cases a divorce may be a beneficial change in a child's life.

Death of a parent presents differently. Again, very circumstantial, but it's potentially less harmful than divorce. (As one completely non scientific theory, perhaps because so many Disney movies involve loss of a parent, there may be a cultural acceptance that live can go on!)

It seems to be that the actual parental configuration (single mom, two moms, etc.) is less important than the economic status of a child's caretaker. Rather intuitively, children with more access to high quality education, economic support, emotional support, healthy food, etc., will have better odds of thriving.

It Goes Both Ways: Parent Status Can Influence Child Longevity and Kids Help Aging Parents

For the moms and dads, there are concerns as they age as well. Recent work from HHS raises concerns on the increased need for Long Term Care support and services when there is no informal caregiver (spouse or child).

As lifespans increase, it becomes more likely for there to be intergenerational households, something that was noted as a positive among groups studied as part of the Blue Zones project.

Concluding Thoughts:

1. Call Your Mom
2. Prioritize your health - for you and your kids and your parents!

Lastly, since this is going out on a Monday, enjoy a tune from the Mamas and the Papas.