Thom reviewed The Telomere Effect by Dr. Elissa Epel
Review of 'The Telomere Effect' on 'Goodreads'
1 star
Telomeres are one of the more fascinating things from research into DNA - repetitive sequences of base pairs at the end of each chromosome, because each time they are copies, chromosomes are shortened. This book, written by one of the original scientists involved, unfortunately focuses more on self help than science.
Telomeres start out long in children and get shorter as we age. As they get shorter, we are also more susceptible to disease - our protecting cells work less efficiently as they age. Blackburn was a co-discoverer of telomerase, an enzyme that can replenish telomeres to some extent. Rather than going deeper into the mechanisms of this, or why we can't just go around mainlining telomerase, the authors instead survey a broad range of activities and look at how they affect your telomeres.
So instead of science, this book preaches the benefits of exercise, fruits & vegetables, and mindfulness …
Telomeres are one of the more fascinating things from research into DNA - repetitive sequences of base pairs at the end of each chromosome, because each time they are copies, chromosomes are shortened. This book, written by one of the original scientists involved, unfortunately focuses more on self help than science.
Telomeres start out long in children and get shorter as we age. As they get shorter, we are also more susceptible to disease - our protecting cells work less efficiently as they age. Blackburn was a co-discoverer of telomerase, an enzyme that can replenish telomeres to some extent. Rather than going deeper into the mechanisms of this, or why we can't just go around mainlining telomerase, the authors instead survey a broad range of activities and look at how they affect your telomeres.
So instead of science, this book preaches the benefits of exercise, fruits & vegetables, and mindfulness meditation, while also emphasizing the evils of stress, smoking, sugar, and processed meats. This in itself isn't bad, but the science is shaky. "Three studies showed..." out of how many performed? "We saw improvements..." details? I stopped and skimmed the rest of the book at this point.
Turns out Dr. Blackburn co-founded the company Telomere Health, which offers telomere length testing to the public. Perhaps a portion of this book was driven by that work - she has since severed ties with that company.
In summary, if you would like to read another self-help book, go for it. If you are looking for science on telomeres, this book contains only a fragment. I plan to check out a few TED talks by this author and hopefully track down a more science based work in the future.