Twins and Longer Life

Women who have twins may live longer, study suggests.
The Los Angeles Times (5/10, Stein) "Booster Shots" blog reported, "Women who have twins naturally may live longer and have other child-bearing advantages compared with non-twin-bearing mothers," according to a study published online May 10 in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. After examining "statistics on 58,786 women who were born between 1807 and 1899," investigators "discovered that twin-bearing mothers lived longer after menopause."
On its website, KTVX-TV Salt Lake City, UT (5/10), an ABC affiliate, reported, "Ken Smith, a professor of family and consumer studies at the University of Utah, is the senior author of the study funded by the National Institute on Aging." Smith "says mothers of multiples may not only carry a gene that increases their likelihood of twins, it may be the gene that causes the improved health of that woman." He stated, "The women are healthier to begin with, and it's that initial health status, that allows them to bear twins, and that also allows them to live longer."