If a test showed you had telomere shortening, it would be a red flag suggesting you should take a look at possible risk factors.

We think there are lifestyle factors that boost telomerase naturally.

Medicine has been successful by treating diseases in a very specific way once the damage is done. But telomere length integrates a lot of factors together and gives you an overall picture of risk for what is now emerging as a lot of diseases that tend to occur together, such as diabetes and heart disease.

They had the risk factors.

Basically, when you look at different types of cells, such as fibroblasts, which form connective tissue, or epithelial cells, from saliva, you see general correlations within a person. If telomeres are up for one cell type, they're up for others overall.

I had a guidance counsellor who made me take an aptitude test, and told me I should be a bricklayer.