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Unraveling the links among obesity, aging, telomere lengths and metabolic diseases is the subject of the study published today in
Nature Metabolism by a collaborative research team at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth).
Telomeres act as protective caps at the end of chromosomes to prevent them from replication errors during cell divisions. Every time a chromosome replicates itself, telomeres shorten. When the telomeres become too short, the cell can no longer replicate its chromosomes safely and becomes arrested, or senescent. That shortening has been linked to the aging process and development of degenerative diseases.