Micronutrient Health Blog | SpectraCell Laboratories - telomere length

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Category: telomere length

Why Doesn’t SpectraCell Put Biological Age on the Telomere Report?

Short Answer:  Telomere length is only one of many physiological factors that affect biological age.  Other factors that affect cellular aging include levels of inflammation, oxidative stress, lipid peroxidation, mitochondrial function, epigenetics, metabolic efficiency and more.  To reduce biological age to just telomere length is somewhat misleading.  Although it is a good marketing tactic, reporting a biological age based solely on telomere length is a gross oversimplif... Read More
at Monday, February 20, 2023

I Got My Telomere Test, Now What?

I Got My Telomere Test, Now What? Here’s a primer on what you can do to understand your telomere test results This is the most common question about telomere testing that Spectracell receives:  What do I do with the results?   It is often followed up by the second most common question:  Why isn’t biological age on the report.   Here we’ll answer both.But first, a little background on telomeres… Telomeres are the protective cap on the... Read More
Posted by Nichole Herms at Friday, February 3, 2023

Not All Telomere Tests Are Created Equal: Here’s What You Need to Know

Telomeres are the quintessential lab test for quantifying biological age.  But not all telomere tests are created equal as some disparity exists between labs.  Measuring small amounts of DNA in a telomere takes some skill so it is imperative to use a lab that is experienced in telomere testing.  SpectraCell was the first lab to commercialize telomere testing in the United States, back in 2010.  With over a decade of samples, our reference population is well over 15,000 pa... Read More
at Tuesday, September 22, 2020

Are Telomeres a New Biomarker for COVID-19?

A recently published medical paper suggests the answer may be YES.  A team of scientists from Rutgers University reviewed the disease progression of COVID-19 and created an interesting hypothesis – that telomeres, particularly short telomere length, may be a potential biomarker that identifies patients most likely to have a bad prognosis from COVID-19.   The theory was published this summer in the FASEB Journal (stands for Federation of American Societies for Experimental... Read More
at Wednesday, September 16, 2020