Lifespan: The Revolutionary Science of Why We Age—and Why We Don't Have To

by David A. Sinclair

Cigarettes, for starters. There aren’t many legal vices out there that are worse for your epigenome than the deadly concoction of thousands of chemicals smokers put into their bodies every day. There’s a reason why smokers seem to age faster: they do age faster. The DNA damage that results from smoking keeps the DNA repair crews working overtime, and likely the result is the epigenetic instability that causes aging. And although I’m not likely to be the first person you’ll hear this from, it nonetheless bears repeating: smoking is not a private, victimless activity. The levels of DNA-damaging aromatic amines in cigarette smoke are about fifty to sixty times as high in secondhand as in firsthand smoke.58 If you do smoke, it is worth trying to quit. Don’t smoke? That’s great, but even without smoke there’s fire. In much of the developed world—and increasingly in the developing world as well—we’re practically bathing in DNA-damaging chemicals. In some places—cities with lots of people and lots of cars, especially—the simple act of breathing is enough to do extra damage to your DNA. But it would also be wise to be wary of the PCBs and other chemicals found in plastics, including many plastic bottles and take-out containers.59 (Avoid microwaving these; it releases even more PCBs.) Exposure to azo dyes, such as aniline yellow, which is used in everything from fireworks to the yellow ink in home printers, can also damage our DNA.60 And organohalides—compounds that contain substit...

Cigaretttes and BPA/BPS