Key points from article :
Telomeric DNA decreases with age and when they get too short cells self-destruct or become senescent.
No association found between telomere length and current health status.
Study of 351 blood samples at age 49-51.
Variation in length is large between individuals and is fairly dynamic for any individual in response to circumstance and illness.
COMMENT: when telomere length testing is cheap enough it might still be worth monitoring long term averages in case they turn out to be important.
The study was published in the American Journal of Human Biology.
