New research suggests that the number of children a woman could affect the rate at which her body ages, with more children leading to a slower rate of biological aging.

新的一项研究表明，女性生育孩子的数量可能会影响身体衰老的速度，孩子越多，生理衰老的速度将会越慢。

A team of researchers from Simon Fraser University, Canada, looked at 75 indigenous¹ Guatemalan women from two neighboring rural communities and collected data on the number of children the women had given birth to.

加拿大西蒙弗雷泽大学的一组研究人员,观察了75名来自两个邻近农村社区的土著危地马拉女性，并收集了这些女性生育孩子的数据。

To find a link between number of children and the rate of biological aging, the team also looked at the length of each woman's telomeres, the protective tips found at the end of each DNA² strand³ that indicate how cells are aging. The longer the cells, the better it is for aging and longevity⁴.

为了找到生育孩子的数量与生理衰老速度的关系，研究小组同样研究了每位女性染色体端粒的长度，每个DNA链末端发现的用来显示细胞如何衰老的保护提示。研究发现，细胞越长，越有助于延年益寿。

To assess the length of the women's telomeres the team took saliva⁵ samples and DNA swabs from the inside of the cheek. A second set of samples was collected 13 years later.

为了评估女性染色体端粒的长度，研究小组抽取了唾液样本以及脸颊内侧的DNA样本。13年之后收集了第二组样品。

In the first study to look at a direct link between the length of telomeres and the number of children, the results showed that the women who gave birth to more surviving children had longer telomeres, going against the theory that producing a larger number of offspring speeds up biological aging.

在观察染色体端粒的长度与孩子数量的第一项研究中，结果表明，女性生下的孩子、并且能够活下来的越多，她们的染色体端粒就越长，这便与这样的理论相悖，即生育的孩子较多将加速生理的衰老。