The secret to longevity may be found deep in the branches of your family tree. An intriguing new study completed at the University of Utah finds that pioneer women who had twins lived longer than their counterparts who gave birth to only one baby at a time. And that, experts say, could help us understand aging today. “There is something about how women reproduce that may impact their health in later life,” says lead researcher Ken R. Smith, professor of family and consumer studies at the University of Utah. Smith and his team looked at just more than 58,000 non-polygamous white Utah women born between 1807 and 1899 who lived to age 50. They found women who gave birth to twins not only lived longer, but were more physically fit and more fertile.
