Scientists unlock a secret to Latinos' longevity, with hopes of slowing aging for everyone

A new way to measure how humans age suggests that Latinos withstand life’s wear and tear better than non-Latino Caucasians, and that they may have their Native American ancestors to thank for their longer lives.

The new findings offer some insight into a longstanding demographic mystery: that despite having higher rates of inflammation and such chronic diseases as obesity and diabetes, Latinos in the United States have a longer average lifespan than do non-Latino whites.

Those findings emerge from an intriguing effort to devise a biological clock — a standard measure of age more revealing than birthdays, walking speed, wrinkled skin or twinkly eyes. By doing so, researchers hope to glean why some people die young while others live long, to understand what chronic diseases have to do with aging, and to predict and increase patients’ lifespans. A reliable measure of biological age could also set a standard by which to judge the effectiveness of anti-aging therapies.

http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-latinos-aging-20160817-snap-story.html