A case for late pregnancies
women who give birth to babies in their forties have a high chance of living a longer and less-disease prone life. A team of researchers led by Thomas T Perls at the Harvard Medical School, Boston, usa , reports that women who have babies after age 40, live longer than those who get pregnant before that age. They studied 78 females in Boston suburbs who lived to at least 100 years and compared them with 54 women born in 1896 but who had died at age 73 (Nature , Vol 389, No 6647).
The study also shows that women who extend their life span by getting pregnant later pay a price of not having a rejuvenating effect. While these women contain genes that predispose them to a longer life, they also have genes that delay the onset of menopause (the time when periods and reproductive ability come to an end).
The findings have helped the researchers understand why humans like other creatures, get ragged as they grow old and females among mammals have menopause. During the study, the team examined the