What accelerates ageing in smokers

Tokyo: A team of Japanese researchers has decoded the mechanism behind what accelerates ageing in smokers.

Assistant professor Kaori Nakanishi and professor Keiko Takihara from Osaka University found that the smoking habit affected the ageing-related molecule in blood serum.

In addition, they elucidated that smoking causes a rise in blood serum concentration of fibroblast growth factor (FGF)-21.

The rise in FGF-21 in smokers can trigger metabolic disorders leading to ageing.

“We found that smoking habits change the blood serum concentration of ageing-related molecules,” they noted.

The results provide new knowledge about ageing-related diseases caused by smoking and prevention of smoking-related accelerated ageing.

This research was reported in Nature's Scientific Reports journal.