Interesting article

[Frezflops]

Thoughts, opinions think there is any validity in this study?

 

http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/smoking-destroys-y-chromosomes

[Sazerac]

Very interesting.  Will be interested in hearing more studies.  

[El Bandito]

Hmmmm. I'm not sure.

 

Seems quite a small sample and limited to Sweden.

 

Still an interesting study

[Chrysalis]

It is easy to count the chromosomes in white blood cells (red blood cells have no chromosomes). White blood cells are part of the immune system; they help detect and fight cancer cells. Scientists have known for 50 years that as men age, some of their white blood cells lose their Y chromosomes (LOY = Loss of Y Chromosome). Since it is much more difficult to count chromosomes in other types of cells, nobody knows what the Y chromosome situation is in other cell types.

 

This group in Sweden asked the questions, "Why do men die earlier than women?" and "Why, when men get cancer, do they more often die from that cancer than women do?"

What they found was:

1. Men > 70 years old often have LOY (15% of men >70 vs 4% of men < 70).

2. Those with LOY more often develop cancer and more often die of cancer than men without LOY.

3. Of the many lifestyle behaviors they studied, only smoking correlates with LOY. Smokers have 2-4 times higher risk of developing significant LOY than do non-smokers.

 

These results were published in several studies over the last year or two in some of the best journals in the world including Nature Genetics and Science, which gives them a lot of credibility.