Dr Bkackburn found markers called telomerase that help telomeres protect our DNA. With a colleague, she discovered there are things we can do to expand the telomeres and keep disease at bay. A fascinating read, not just for those interested in lifespan, but also how the body functions at the DNA level. Recommended read.

This book tells you something you already knew, but from a different angle. Eat a wide variety of whole foods, fruit and vegetables, and lean meat and oily fish, exercise moderately and beware the belly fat. Your cells will thank you for it.

Unfortunately the authors are chemophobes, make sweeping statements about mental health and have clearly aimed this book at the middle class 'self-help' market. The suggestions they make are great for people with time and money, not so good for everyone else, and practically blame the poor for being poor and prone to illhealth and short lives.

none. I thought I had already said I would not review this book because I did not finish it.

THE TELOMERE EFFECT (Jan. 3, Grand Central Publishing) is co-written by Elizabeth Blackburn, who in 2009 shared the Nobel Prize in Medicine for discovering the role of telomeres in aging, and Elissa Epel, a well-regarded health psychologist who studies stress, aging and obesity. These authors note how they have included lessons from telomere research "in language for the general reader" and proceed to explain that telomeres (tee-lo-meres) are a bit like the plastic coating at the end of shoelaces – designed to protect the end of chromosomes, but wearing away over time.

How to prevent premature aging at the cellular level is a key focus for this book and faculty, parents and grandparents of our students will likely be interested; in fact, the public library copy of THE TELOMERE EFFECT was already checked out. I am curious to spend more time with this text which discusses fitness regimes, eating for optimal cell health and social impact on our telomeres, including chapters on assessing your stress and mindfulness. They offer a "renewal lab" at the end of each section and encourage regular practice. More information is also available on the resources page available through their publisher, including suggested resources like a 12 minute memory exercise.

Links in post:
http://www.hachettebookgroup.com/features/the-telomere-effect/resources.html
http://www.alzheimersprevention.org/research/12-minute-memory-exercise

I have to start by saying my PhD research was in this field. I was SO excited to read Dr Blackburn's book since I have been out of the field for a decade. As a scientist, I found it much like reading a very long review. I found myself wondering if in trying too hard to make it accessible, it just got very dry. This is an interesting field and the research has the potential or creating new treatments for a wide variety of problems. Even as someone who knows the science well and is interested in the field, it was rough. The title says "The New Science of Living Younger, " but I felt like it just rehashed the science that most people know. Sleep well, eat well, exercise, reduce stress and environmental toxins. I was disappointed.

Full disclosure - I received a copy of the book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.