News

Greener neighborhoods can protect us — at the molecular level

A new study finds that greenspace in urban environments has a positive impact on a key genetic marker associated with exposure to stress
Matt Shipman
Nov. 5, 2023

A new study finds that greenspace – the vegetation in a neighborhood’s yards, parks and public spaces – has a positive impact on a key genetic marker associated with exposure to stress. However, the study also finds that the positive impact of greenspace isn’t enough to compensate for other environmental challenges, such as air pollution.

The markers in question are telomeres, which are sections of repetitive DNA found at each end of a chromosome that serve to protect the ends of the chromosomes from damage. However, each time a cell divides, the telomeres inside those cells become slightly shorter. Once the telomeres become so short that the cell cannot divide successfully, the cell dies.

In their recent article in the journal Science of the Total Environment, scientists found there’s a complex relationship between greenspace exposure and telomere length. Greenspace alone, however, cannot offset other environmental and societal harms.

“This makes telomeres important markers of biological age, or how worn down our cells are,” says Scott Ogletree, corresponding author of a paper on the study and a former postdoctoral researcher at North Carolina State University’s Center for Geospatial Analytics. “And we know that many variables – such as stress – can influence how quickly our telomeres wear down.” Ogletree is now a lecturer at the University of Edinburgh.

“There’s a lot of research that talks about the various ways in which greenspace is beneficial, and a lot of research that talks about adverse health effects associated with pollution, racist segregation in housing, and other social and environmental challenges,” says Aaron Hipp, co-author of the study and a professor of parks, recreation and tourism management at NC State. “This study was an attempt to quantify the beneficial impacts of greenspace at the cellular level, and the extent to which greenspace can help to offset environmental harms.”

For the study, researchers drew on data from the CDC’s National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) for the years 1999-2002. NHANES is a longitudinal, nationally representative study that assesses the health of the U.S. population through interviews and physical examinations.

Specifically, the researchers looked at data on 7,827 people that allowed them to assess their demographic data, the length of their telomeres, and where they lived. The research team assessed the amount of greenspace in each person’s neighborhood and how that related to their telomere length. The researchers also accounted for potential confounding variables, such as lifestyle, health history and substance use. In addition, the researchers identified a suite of other environmental variables that could affect telomere length, such as air quality and “redlining” maps that track historically segregated neighborhoods.

“We found that the more greenspace people had in their neighborhoods, the longer their telomeres were,” says Hipp, who is also the associate director of social and behavioral science applications at NC State’s Center for Geospatial Analytics. “That was true regardless of race, economic status, whether they were drinkers or smokers, etc.”

“That’s the good news,” Ogletree says. “However, when we accounted for other characteristics of each neighborhood – air pollution, segregation, or ‘deprivation’ – the positive effect of the greenspace essentially disappeared. Deprivation, in this context, was an overarching variable that included the neighborhood-level data on income, education, employment status, and housing conditions. In other words, while greenspace seems to help protect telomere length, the harm from other factors appears to offset that protection.”

“Greenspace is tremendously valuable for a community, but it is not enough to overcome systemic racism and the effects of economic segregation and environmental justice challenges on its own,” says Hipp. “This study drives home the idea that creating greenspace in a community is important, but it’s as crucial – or more crucial – for us to address environmental harms, particularly those tied to systemic racism.”

This article was first published by North Carolina State University. Read the original.

Enjoy reading ASBMB Today?

Become a member to receive the print edition four times a year and the digital edition weekly.

Learn more
Matt Shipman

Matt Shipman is the research communications lead at North Carolina State University. He is also a freelance writer and communications consultant, a contributor to Health News Review, author of the “Handbook for Science Public Information Officers” (University of Chicago Press, 2015), and contributor to “Science Blogging: The Essential Guide” (Yale University Press, 2016).

Get the latest from ASBMB Today

Enter your email address, and we’ll send you a weekly email with recent articles, interviews and more.

Latest in Science

Science highlights or most popular articles

Gene-mutation pathway discovery paves way for targeted blood cancers therapies
News

Gene-mutation pathway discovery paves way for targeted blood cancers therapies

Nov. 3, 2024

A new study by researchers at the universities of Texas and Chicago explains the enzymatic activity that’s needed for tumor suppression in leukemias and other cancers.

Candy binges can overload your gut microbiome
News

Candy binges can overload your gut microbiome

Nov. 2, 2024

While most Halloween candies contain lots of sugar, some are better for your gut microbiome than others.

Water rescues the enzyme
Essay

Water rescues the enzyme

Oct. 31, 2024

“Sometimes you must bend the rules to get what you want.” In the case of using water in the purification of calpain-2, it was worth the risk.

Virtual issue celebrates water in ASBMB journals
Journal News

Virtual issue celebrates water in ASBMB journals

Oct. 30, 2024

Read a dozen gold open-access articles covering exciting research about the society’s 2024 Molecule of the year.

There are worse things in the water than E. coli
News

There are worse things in the water than E. coli

Oct. 29, 2024

E. coli levels determined whether Olympic swimmers could dive into the Seine this past summer. But are these bacteria the best proxy for water contamination?

Biobots arise from the cells of dead organisms
News

Biobots arise from the cells of dead organisms

Oct. 27, 2024

Given the right conditions, certain types of cells are able to self-assemble into new lifeforms after the organism they were once part of has died.