Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 11, 2025

Telomere Length and Telomerase Activity; A Yin and Yang of Cell Senescence
Published on: May 22, 2013
Why women may live longer than men do? A telomere-length regulated and diet-based entropic assessment
Melek Ece Öngel1, Cennet Yıldız2, Can Akpınaroğlu3
1Department and Nutrition and Dietetics, Yeditepe University, 34755, Kayısdagi, Atasehir, Istanbul, Turkey.
Background & Aims:
Empirical analyses of the data available around the word concluded that women have longer life span now, when compared to the men. Available literature unfortunately could not offer full answers to this observation. The "entropic age" concept suggests that ageing related changes in the body, such as loss of molecular functions and overwhelming of the maintenance systems, may be explained in terms of entropy generation.
Methods:
Telomere-length regulated entropic assessment based on metabolic activity with four different diets carried out.
Results:
Estimates of the life expectancy of the women on all of these diets is longer than those of the men. Faster shortening of the telomere lengths in men was the major reason of the shorter life expectancy. The highest and the lowest life expectancy for women were estimated with Mediterranean and the vegetarian diets, respectively; men were estimated to have the longest life span with the vegetarian diet and the shortest life span with the ketogenic diet.
Conclusions:
A higher rate of metabolism causes higher entropy generation and hints correlations that can be helpful in future ageing research. Faster shortening of the telomere lengths in men was the major reason of the estimation of the shorter life span for men.
Related Concept Videos
Telomeres and Telomerase
Telomeres and Telomerase
Replicative Cell Senescence
Replication in Eukaryotes
Many Proteins Orchestrate Replication at the Origin
Eukaryotic replication follows many of the same...
Replication in Eukaryotes
Longitudinal Research

