| > There is also one sure-fire way to increase telomere length : get cancer. This badly needs a source. This article from 2013 [1] says the opposite, that shorter telomeres are associated with cancer: In recent years, shorter telomeres have become associated with a broad range of aging-related diseases, including many forms of cancer, stroke, vascular dementia, cardiovascular disease, obesity, osteoporosis and diabetes. And another [2]: "Telomere shortening is common in cancer, but the degree of shortening varies from one cancer cell to another within each patient, and this variability may give us a better idea of how prostate cancers behave." [1]: https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2013/09/108886/lifestyle-changes-m... [2]: http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/media/releases/in_prosta... |
"Cancer" is an unbelievably broad term. Generally speaking, expression of telomerase and maintenance of telomeres is seen in (many) cancers. The background behind this is that as telomeres shorten with each cell replication, they get to a point where they are too short, and the cell stops dividing. Cancer occurs when cells that are not supposed to divide keep dividing.