Genetics, genetics, genetics. These tiny things you have absolutely no control over can be blamed for a lot. And now scientists are saying they’ve found a new genetic combo that causes people to look older than they really are—a key discovery in the whole anti-aging game.
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Scientists from the Erasmus MC University Medical Center Rotterdam in The Netherlands (in conjunction with Unilever) are claiming that certain varieties of the MC1R gene (it’s also the gene responsible for red hair and pale skin) could also be blamed for making a person look older than they really are. The findings, which were published in Current Biology, report that in the study group, the participants who had this certain variant of the gene in their DNA appeared to be, on average, two years older.
“This is the first gene we have found for perceived age, and this single gene has an effect of two years,” said Manfred Kayser, professor of forensic molecular biology at Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam. “We know there are others out there. We are just at the beginning.”
Image: Current Biology
