What is measured is how long the protective caps at the ends of your chromosomes are.
What is done?
Your genome is packed into chromosomes. Telomeres sit at their ends. They protect the genetic information. In most body cells they gradually get shorter over the course of life.
The lab uses qPCR, a kind of copying method: pieces of genetic material are doubled again and again. This makes it possible to compare how much telomere DNA there is in the sample relative to a reference gene. More of it means: longer telomeres on average.
Why does it matter?
- On average, older people have shorter telomeres. Their length is therefore considered one building block of ageing.
- You get a baseline against which later measurements are compared.
- Telomere length is also part of Healthy Aging.
Good to know: This measurement varies between runs and between labs, more so from dried blood than from blood taken from a vein in the arm. A single value therefore says little. The progress tells you more, but small differences can be chance there, too.
