L-carnosine reduces damage to telomeres and prevents their shortening in cultured fibroblasts. Telomeres form the ends of the chromosomes to which the DNA strands are packed tightly inside the cell. During cell division, the telomeres get shorter and shorter, leading to ageing. The ability to divide is unfortunately not infinite; from a certain telomere length, the cell can no longer divide and dies. The Chinese study describes the effect of L-carnosine on the telomeres of cultured human foetal lung fibroblasts. In this study, L-carnosine delayed replicative senescence and prolonged the lifetime of cultured human fibroblasts. For this purpose, scientists Shao L., Li QH and Tan Z. constantly imbibed the fibroblasts in 20 ml carnosine, which resulted in distinctly slowed telomere shortening and a prolonged life span within cell division. Furthermore, there was less DNA damage.