September 1 • 2019 The Mail on Sunday Health 55
EvEr wondEr why
Memories are dynamic and can
be changed. Psychologists
suggest people are more likely
to ‘edit’ traumatic or emotional
memories to remember them
from a different point of view.
Research suggests this helps
make the memory of the event- whether an embarrassing
school performance or an
injury – less vivid and the
emotion associated with it
easier to manage. When this
happens, it can feel as if you’re
looking on as a bystander at
something your younger self
experienced. But since you
can’t watch yourself doing
something, the memory is not
completely accurate.Good news for
the baby of the
family... you’ll
live longer!
THERE may be only five years’ difference
between Fiona Scott and her sister
Ali Rellos but the gulf in health terms
is enormous.
Fiona, 53, from Swindon, has
suffered with high blood pressure
since her early 20s. She also
takes antidepressants to cope
with the psychological effects of
the menopause and is prone to
colds and sniffles. Yet her younger
sibling has rarely, if ever, suffered
problems with her health.
‘I was diagnosed with high
blood pressure at 24,’ says
public-relations executive Fiona,
who is married with three children.
‘I’ve been on pills ever since and will be
for the rest of my life.
‘I have an annual check-up for the
thickening of my heart muscles, which is
common with this illness. I also need my
liver checked because of the drugs I take.
‘Yet Ali is healthy – she’s never had any
of my illnesses.’W
E all know the sibling
stereotypes: the eldest
has a head start in life,
the middle child feels left
out and the youngest is
rebellious and impulsive.
But big brothers and sisters don’t always
come out on top, research has revealed –
most notably when it comes to our health.
according to a wealth of scientific studies,
the ‘babies’ of the family are more likely
to be slimmer, healthier and live longer
than their elder brothers or sisters. Senior
siblings face an uphill struggle, being prone
to obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes and
cancer. Here, we reveal the intriguing sci-
ence that shows why your place in the family
could be the secret to optimum health.
SLIM AND HEALTHY?
THANK YOUR OLDER SISTER
OBESITY will be responsible for 400,000
deaths in Britain over the next decade.
Statistics show that being obese increases
by 70 per cent the risk of heart failure – one
of the leading causes of death in the UK.
Obesity, which affects more than a quarter
of adults, has now overtaken smoking as the
leading cause of four types of cancer.
although overeating and a lack of exercise
are obvious causes, birth order could play a
role, too. a 2015 study in New Zealand
tracked 13,400 pairs of sisters and
found those born first were almost
a third more likely to be overweight
and 40 per cent more likely to be
obese than their younger siblings.
On average, older sisters were 1 lb
4oz bigger. The same pattern has
been found in men and the reason,
scientists admit, is a mystery.
But Professor Sandra Black,
a public health researcher at
Columbia University, New York,
believes the difference may be
because in the first pregnancy,
a mother’s blood vessels are
narrower, reducing the supply of
nutrients to a baby in the womb,
making them store more fat.
In later pregnancies, blood ves-
sels are more flexible so are
inclined to stretch – increasing the
flow of blood and nutrients to the baby.
‘lower nutrient flow to first-borns in
the womb may affect their body’s regu-
lation of fat, causing them to store more
fats in adulthood,’ says Prof Black.
YOUNG SIBLINGS LESS
LIKELY TO GET DIABETES
TYPE 2 diabetes, a condition where
the body becomes unable to regu-
late blood sugar, is a modern epi-
demic, affecting more than three
million Britons.
First-borns are more prone to
diabetes, according to a study in
New Zealand which found that older
children’s bodies are less responsive
to insulin, the hormone that helps
muscle cells burn up sugar in the
blood, keeping it stable.
Excess blood sugar is one of the
hallmarks of type 2 diabetes and,
left untreated, can increase the risk
of heart attacks, stroke, blindness
and amputations later in life.
Scientists think the poorer health
of first-borns may be because they
get a smaller amount of nutrients.
Professor Scott Montgomery, at
University College london, says:
‘There are changes in the mother
when she’s had previous pregnan-
cies which could have implications
for the development of the child.’
COMPETING SENDS
BLOOD PRESSURE UP
HaVING a younger sibling is seri-
ously bad for your blood pressure.
tions, which we know first-borns
are more likely to do.’
and findings published in Eco-
nomics and Human Biology also
showed that the effects on blood
pressure tend to wear off as family
members get older.‘BABIES’ PROTECTED
fROM ALLERGIES
THE ‘hygiene hypothesis’, where
nervous first-time parents over-
sterilise, could explain why younger
siblings are much less at risk of
allergies. First-borns are almost
twice as likely to suffer allergic
conjunctivitis, hay fever and food
allergies than third children, and a
third more likely than middle chil-dren. Some suggest older siblings
pick up infections in school and
bring them home, exposing younger
siblings to germs at an earlier stage
than they were. Prof Montgomery
says: ‘This boosts younger chil-
dren’s immune systems, making
them less likely to develop allergy-
type conditions.’
However, a 2008 study found that
the difference in risk begins in
the womb. Scientists studied the
placenta blood of 1,200 newborns,
all of varying birth order.
The blood of first-borns was found
to contain significantly increased
amounts of a genetic marker asso-
ciated with allergies and asthma.
When researchers followed them
up at ages four and ten and per-
formed an allergy test, those withthe genetic marker tested positive
for allergies. This may partially
explain the increasing prevalence
of allergies in the Western world,
as birth rates have declined.EVEN THE RISK Of
CANCER CAN VARY
BEING the eldest can heighten
your risk of various cancers, stud-
ies suggest.
Boys born as the family’s fourth
or fifth child are 70 per cent less
likely to develop a testicular tumour
than the oldest boy.
Researchers who studied 200
testicular cancer cases and their
siblings said a man’s risk of devel-
oping the disease may be deter-
mined while still in the womb, when
first-born boys experience greater
exposure to the hormone oestrogen
than younger brothers. Oestrogen
is thought to drive the reproduction
of testicular cancer cells.
Brain cancer could also be linked
to birth order, according to a Ger-
man study, which found that hav-
ing three or more younger siblings
trebled the risk of a tumour due
to infections passed from younger
siblings to older ones, perhaps dur-
ing late childhood. Infections passed
from older siblings do not seem to
carry the same threat.By Jo Willey
I’M AL wAYS ILL BUT MY
SISTER NEVER SUff ERS
Studies involving almost 400
young adults found that those with
younger brothers and sisters had
blood pressure readings up to six
per cent higher than those with
older siblings.
Scientists from the University of
Massachusetts studied readings in
374 young adults and found little
brothers increase readings by up
to six per cent and little sisters by
almost four per cent.
The reason why is fairly predict-
able – the arrival of a new sibling
means having to compete for par-
ental attention, adding to stress.
Feeling stressed leads to a surge
in the hormone cortisol, which is
shown to dramatically increase
blood-pressure levels.
Older sisters were found to
have especially high blood pres-
sure. Scientists think this is
because they take on more respon-
sibility around the house, compared
to boys, when a new brother or
sister arrives.
another 2017 study – the largest
of its type – found that older sib-
lings are seven per cent more
likely to suffer high blood pres-
sure at the age of 40.
However, Prof Black says socio-
logical factors may be at play.
‘This may be related to the higher
stress associated with certain occu-
pations such as managerial posi-getty imagesyou sometimes see
yourself in your memories?