3 ms·

I doubt it's all black and white as you tell it: https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21185-fetus-donates-stem-cells-to-heal-mothers-heart/ https://www.newsci

by Ygg2 9y ago

I doubt it's all black and white as you tell it: https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21185-fetus-donates-stem-cells-to-heal-mothers-heart/ https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21185-fetus-donates-s... If the mother's body leaves fetal cells alone, they have can act as essentially free stem cells, helping repairs. I forget the exact journal, but women that had like two or three kids, live longer on average than those that didn't.

ajuc 9y ago
> women that had like two or three kids, live longer on average than those that didn't Can't have 3 kids if you died at age of 10.
- mtgex 9y ago
  While that's true, the context of the statement makes it clear that's not what's being discussed at all.
- Ygg2 9y ago
  I assume they looked at groups of women, and controlled for partner presence.
jcl 9y ago
Perhaps it was this article -- where analysis of age-50+ members of a particular Amish community showed that lifespan of mothers increases linearly up to 14 children, and increases with later age at last birth: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16510865 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16510865 (Interesting... it also shows a positive -- but lower/noisier -- effect for fathers as well, so there may be more at work than just stem cells.)
- toasterlovin 9y ago
  Just a friendly reminder that correlation != causation. Personally, I would bet that what's happening here is that healthier individuals choose to have more children, rather than that having more children increases life span.
  - BurningFrog 9y ago
    Almost. An evolutionary theory based guess is that healthy long lived individuals are more attractive in the mating arena and therefore have more children.
    - toasterlovin 9y ago
      I think the Amish get married young and then stay married for life, so not sure if attractiveness plays a factor (since more or less everybody gets a mate).

by Ygg2 9y ago

ajuc 9y ago

> women that had like two or three kids, live longer on average than those that didn't Can't have 3 kids if you died at age of 10.

mtgex 9y ago
While that's true, the context of the statement makes it clear that's not what's being discussed at all.
Ygg2 9y ago
I assume they looked at groups of women, and controlled for partner presence.

jcl 9y ago

Perhaps it was this article -- where analysis of age-50+ members of a particular Amish community showed that lifespan of mothers increases linearly up to 14 children, and increases with later age at last birth: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16510865 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16510865 (Interesting... it also shows a positive -- but lower/noisier -- effect for fathers as well, so there may be more at work than just stem cells.)

toasterlovin 9y ago
Just a friendly reminder that correlation != causation. Personally, I would bet that what's happening here is that healthier individuals choose to have more children, rather than that having more children increases life span.
- BurningFrog 9y ago
  Almost. An evolutionary theory based guess is that healthy long lived individuals are more attractive in the mating arena and therefore have more children.
  - toasterlovin 9y ago
    I think the Amish get married young and then stay married for life, so not sure if attractiveness plays a factor (since more or less everybody gets a mate).