Over time, the dutiful and dysfunctional stem cells die off but others, like the Mafia capos or career politicians, become unable to kill themselves so they persist and cause problems while still lengthening their telomres.
In a 2017 study of 129 mothers, researchers at UCSF found that having sexual intercourse was associated with longer telomeres, which are associated with better health and increased longevity.
I have noted that over the last nine years, taking telomerase activators in my patients can lead to increases but that this does not result in continuous lengthening. Now, we understand why this is the case.
When we discuss the risk of telomere length to cancer risk, there are many studies but the conclusions we reach are limited by our simplistic assumptions.