Eating well, exercising and attending regular doctor appointments can support a long healthy life, but a new study identified one possible factor beyond our control: whether you had a grandparent who went to college. The study, from researchers at Drexel University and colleagues from the University of California and the University of North Carolina, was recently published in the journal Social Science and Medicine . Studying data across three generations – education of parents and grandparents, and health data from parents and their children – the group found a statistically significant association between grandparents' education level and their grandchildren's epigenetic-based "real" age (short definition of what is meant by "real" (how old an individual is based on their health profile and cells).
The study's finding that grandchildren of college-educated grandparents showed slower biological aging (i.e., younger biological age relative to chronological age) than those whose grandparents did not graduate from college is based on five different epigenetic-based aging clocks.
These clocks use a saliva swab to examine a biological process known as DNA methylation – which changes as the body ages – to predict an individual's age based on their health profile at the cellular level. "The research community has established a link between how social factors, socioeconomic factors, and childhood adversity can contribute to health trajectories," said lead author Agus Surachm.