In-breeding 'key to male longevity'
Updated on 23 January 2008
Marrying close family might be frowned upon in civilised society but a new scientific study published appears to have discovered one benefit to in-breeding: a long life.
According to an article in the New Scientist, getting together with a cousin could be the answer to having children who live longer.
Giuseppe Passarino of the University of Calabria in Rende, Italy, who conducted the study, believes in-breeding could provide the key to longevity.
He said: "Everyone knows that in-breeding is bad - it increases your chances of catching a range of disease.
"But on the other hand, our study suggests that if inbreds don't get those diseases when they're young, they might have a better chance of long life."
Mr Passarino and his colleagues used census data to pick out a geographically isolated region of southern Italy which had more male nonagerians than normal.
His team looked through the local phone book and found many people in the region shared the same surname, suggesting that marriage of relatives was common.
The scientist said it was possible to trace a surname because, like the Y chromosome, it passed down the paternal line.
He now believes living longer could be linked to "homozygosity", where someone has two identical copies of a gene which can occur when the gene pool stays the same.
Leonid Gavrilov, from the University of Chicago, said: "It is theoretically possible to observe more centenarians as a result of in-breeding."
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