New research suggests that the number of children a woman could affect the rate at which her body ages, with more children leading to a slower rate of biological aging.

　　新研究表明女性生育孩子的数量可能会影响身体衰老的速度，孩子越多，生理衰老的速度将会越慢。

　　A team of researchers from Simon Fraser University, Canada, looked at 75 indigenous Guatemalan women from two neighboring rural communities and collected data on the number of children the women had given birth to.

　　加拿大西蒙弗雷泽大学的一组研究人员,观察了75名土著危地马拉女性，她们来自两个邻近农村社区，并收集了这些女性生育孩子的数据。

　　To find a link between number of children and the rate of biological aging, the team also looked at the length of each woman’s telomeres, the protective tips found at the end of each DNA strand that indicate how cells are aging. The longer the cells, the better it is for aging and longevity.

　　为了找到生育孩子的数量与生理衰老速度的关系，研究小组同样研究了每位女性染色体端粒的长度，每个DNA链末端发现的保护提示显示细胞如何衰老。细胞越长，越有助于延年益寿。

　　To assess the length of the women’s telomeres the team took saliva samples and DNA swabs from the inside of the cheek. A second set of samples was collected 13 years later.

　　为了评估女性染色体端粒的长度，研究小组抽取了唾液样本以及脸颊内侧的DNA样本。13年之后收集了第二组样品。

　　In the first study to look at a direct link between the length of telomeres and the number of children, the results showed that the women who gave birth to more surviving children had longer telomeres, going against the theory that producing a larger number of offspring speeds up biological aging.

　　在观察染色体端粒的长度与孩子数量的第一项研究中，结果表明，女性生下的孩子、并且能够活下来越多，她们的染色体端粒就越长，这便与这样的理论相悖，即生育的孩子较多将加速生理的衰老。

　　The researchers believe that these results could be explained by two factors.

　　研究人员认为，这些结果可能由两个因素来解释。

　　As the women were from communities where mothers receive a large amount of social support from friends and family, this could enable the body to devote more of its energy to looking after and maintaining body tissue, therefore slowing down the biological aging process. However although this level of support is a social norm for communities where the study took place, it may not be seen across all cultures or societies.

　　当女性是来自这些社区，即母亲们会得到来自朋友与家庭较多的社会性帮助，这将使她们身体的更多精力用于照顾、维持机体组织，因此减缓生理衰老的过程。然而，在进行研究的社区，这种程度的支持虽然是一种社会规范，但是可能在所有的文化或者社会中并不常见。

　　In addition, the results could be explained by the primary female sex hormone estrogen, which has a strong antioxidant effect on the body. Levels of estrogen rise significantly during pregnancy, leading the researchers to believe that it thanks to its antioxidant effect, estrogen may protect the mother’s cells against telomere shortening.

　　此外, 女性主要荷尔蒙雌激素可以解释这样的结果， 因其对身体具有强大的抗氧化作用。怀孕期间雌激素水平大幅上升,使研究人员相信正是其抗氧化作用,雌激素可以保护母亲们的细胞免于染色体端粒缩短。

（编辑：何莹莹）