Study suggests that aging begins in the womb

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"The process of aging begins even before we are born, according to an international team of researchers, including lead author Dr Beth Allison who has now returned to The Ritchie Centre at Hudson Institute of Medical Research and Monash University in Melbourne.

Researchers in the University of Cambridge-led study used rats to model pregnancy and fetal development, finding that providing mothers with antioxidants during late pregnancy meant that their offspring aged more slowly in adulthood.

However, the offspring of mothers with lower levels of oxygen in the womb – which, in humans, can be a consequence of smoking during pregnancy or of pregnancy at high altitude – aged more quickly in adulthood.

Dr Allison, from The Ritchie Centre, Hudson Institute of Medical Research and Monash University, who carried out her work while at the University of Cambridge, says the paper shows for the first time that the anti-ageing properties of antioxidants may extend to unborn children.

"Antioxidants are known to reduce ageing, but here, we show for the first time that giving them to pregnant mothers in the latter half of gestation can slow down the ageing clock of their offspring," Dr Allison said..."

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