Aging related to social class?

Alayne McGregor sent these two links to the Lois McMaster Bujold mailing list. I'm sure the findings will be unpopular, if only because they fly in the face of long-held beliefs in certain economic quarters. the BBC reported:

People in lower social classes are biologically older than those in higher classes, according to research.

A study of 1,552 volunteers revealed a low social status can accelerate the ageing process by about seven years.

The UK/US team analysed key pieces of DNA called telomeres which are thought to correlate to biological age.

The scientists, writing in the journal Aging Cell, believe the stress associated with belonging to a lower social class may be to blame.

And the Guardian said this:

Scientists have uncovered evidence of a new class divide: the lower our social standing, the faster we age.

The claim follows the surprise discovery of accelerated ageing among working class volunteers, leaving them biologically older than those higher up the social ladder.

Genetic tests showed that being working class could add the equivalent of seven years to a person's age.

And moving down in the world by marrying someone from a lower social class also added years to a woman's biological age, scientists report today in the journal Aging Cell.