'Person may age faster if father smoked as teen'

An individual may age “faster” if their father smoked during puberty, a new study has suggested. The research found that smoking among boys aged 15 and younger could cause damage to developing sperm cells, with effects then passed on to their future offspring. The study, presented to the European Respiratory Society Congress in Amsterdam, found signs of faster biological ageing, compared with actual age, among people whose fathers began smoking at 15 or younger.

- Ella Pickover, The Independent

Researchers examined the blood samples of 892 people from various European countries and Australia, ranging in age from seven to 50, to assess the markers of ageing in a person’s DNA, sometimes referred to as an epigenetic clock. The subjects were asked a series of questions, including whether they or their parents had ever smoked and at what age. People whose fathers began smoking during puberty were around nine months to a year older than their chronological age on average.

If the person had ever smoked themselves, the differences were “more pronounced”, the authors reported. Among those whose fathers began smoking later in life, researchers found only a small increase in biological age.