Eli5: Why do women live longer than men on average, even among the older population like supercentenarians?
In: 2368
There’s a relationship between body mass and longevity that’s thought to be associated with lower cancer incidence.
Basically, if all other things being equal, every cell has some chance of becoming cancerous. If you have more cells, that’s like buying more lottery tickets.
Don’t know how big of an effect this is (larger body mass may just strain the body more, for example), but it’s not 0.
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