2023-08-16 08:43:01
DECRYPTION – Science has been trying for years to understand this difference. Biology and genetics would be less favorable to men.
Of the 100 longest-lived people in the past 30 years, only four were men. On both sides of the globe, men live on average less than women. France is no exception. According to a recent INSEE study, life expectancy at birth for women is 85.8 years compared to 80.3 years for men for the period 2020-2025. Almost six years of difference!
Since the beginning of the XXe century, the two sexes tend towards identical lifestyles, the causes of mortality are generally similar, and yet their lifespan remains unequal, notes Athanase Benetos, professor of geriatrics and biology of aging at the University Hospital of Nancy. For this Inserm researcher, three scientific hypotheses stand out. “There are no certainties, but advances in recent decades have shown the benefits of estrogen.” This female sex hormone would somehow protect women from cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis. “It has an antioxidant effect which plays a role in aging and lower mortality, particularly for cardiovascular disorders.”
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Besides hormones, men would be disadvantaged because of… the length of their chromosomes! “Like the little plastics that we find at the end of the laces”, the chromosomes are made up of four endings – the telomeres – whose length plays a role in life expectancy. Professor Benetos has studied them for a long time. Over the course of a lifetime, every human, regardless of gender, sees their telomeres shrink. “Males have had shorter telomeres since birth, and although telomere wear is equivalent in both sexes, they reach critical size earlier than their female counterparts.” A difference that is still not very well explained today. “A lot of scientists think it’s due to estrogen, but that can’t explain why this difference exists from birth to the end of life. It’s genetic.” assures the specialist.
The price of longevity
Still at the level of the chromosomes, the possession of the Y chromosome plays once morest them. Recall that female organisms have chromosomes of identical types (XX) while males have chromosomes of distinct types (XY). The ex “contains a lot of genetic information apart from sex determination. As women have the same chromosome twice, this allows them to choose the best genes from each X”.
For the professor, it is possible that all of these three factors play a role. Women would be biologically more advantaged, but this is not without counterparts. “They certainly have the advantage of having a better life expectancy, but their state of health at the end of life is more impaired than that of men at the same age. In addition, they are sometimes less helped when they find themselves alone and have more difficulties. Their longevity has a price.
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