Why Men Live Shorter Lives

Researchers have determine that a loss of the Y chromosome in the blood cells of males can result in a shorter life expectancy and greater chances of dying from cancer, according to a recent study.

It is a commonly known fact that women tend to live longer than men. The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention backs that theory in their regular mortality reports, finding that on-average women live five years longer than men.

Many experts have theorized that men simply are more likely to take on risky behaviors, especially in their earlier years, in an effort to display their manhood. However, recent research has shown that adolescent boys and girls are both likely to take on risky and cancer-inducing behaviors in order to appear more masculine or feminine to their peers.

Now, a recently study published in Nature Genetics offers a new explanation as to why men, on average, lead shorter lives.

As part of a national collaboration, Swedish scientists from Karolinska Institute, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm University and Uppsala University analyzed the DNA in blood samples from more than 1,600 elderly men

According o the study, researcher followed and analyzed the blood of these men for a significant number of years, looking for a correlation between a number of genetic markers and an increased chance of death.

According to the researchers, they determined in their analysis that men approaching their deathbed most commonly expressed a loss of the Y chromosome in their while blood cells. According to the researchers, while commonly associated with sex determination and sperm production, alterations in expression of the Y chromosome can also be a strong indicator of carcinogenesis. The researcher theorize that the Y chromosome may even play a part in suppressing tumors, and a loss of this chromosome's prevalence could result in the advancement of cancers in males.

Of course, more research will have to be conducted to verify this theory.

The study was published in Nature Genetics on April 28.