Cash transfers to mothers with low income may slow biological aging in children

This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: A four-year randomized controlled trial tested whether unconditional cash transfers to low-income mothers could alter biological indicators of aging in them and their children. Credit: MPI for Human Development A study published in Nature Human Behaviour reports that providing cash transfers to low-income mothers during the first four years of their children's lives changed the children's biological aging in ways associated with better health in adulthood. In the Baby's First Years study, 1,000 low-income mothers were randomly assigned to receive either $333 a month or $20 a month during their child's first four years of life. Using measures of the child's epigenome—biological mechanisms that regulate how genes are expressed—the researchers found that higher cash transfers caused a small difference in an indicator of children's biological aging linked to better long-term health outcomes. Because of the randomized controlled trial design, the researchers concluded that these changes were caused by receipt of the higher cash transfer rather than other factors. "Previous research has shown correlational evidence in other studies suggesting that poverty may accelerate epigenetic aging in children, but correlations alone can't tell us whether intervening can slow that process. So it is notable to see a causal impact of the cash transfers. It supports the notion that addressing childhood poverty is a public health priority to protect long-term health," said lead author Laurel Raffington, research group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development. Earlier results were mixed Previous Baby's First Years studies found that mothers who received higher cash transfers increased their spending on and time in activities with their young children, and the intervention may have caused increased fast-paced brain activity in patterns associated with subsequent cognitive development. However, no differences have been found in other measures of children's health, cognitive or behavioral development. The current study demonstrates that even without accompanying psychosocial or nutrition interventions, cash transfers alone can produce small but potentially important effects on children's biology. Questions remain about persistence Epigenetic measures respond to factors such as stress, nutrition and aging and have been linked to the pace of adult aging and the timing of disease onset. The differences in children's epigenetics across the two groups were small, and "it remains to be seen whether these differences persist as children grow older," said senior authors Kimberly Noble and Kathryn Paige Harden. "If these differences do persist," Noble, a professor at Teachers College, Columbia University, continued, "this work has the potential to inform early childhood interventions aiming to reduce disparities in health, disease and longevity." Harden, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin, agreed, saying, "The fact that we already see differences in 4-year-old children in their biological aging is striking." There was no evidence of differences in biological aging among the mothers themselves, which is consistent with the theory that the effect may be somewhat specific to the developmental period of early childhood. While these results are encouraging, it is not yet known whether biological changes measured at age 4 predict long-term health outcomes in adulthood—highlighting the importance of continued follow-up of this cohort. Publication details Laurel Raffington et al, Effects of a randomized controlled trial of unconditional cash transfers on epigenetic measures of ageing and cognition in children and mothers, Nature Human Behaviour (2026). DOI: 10.1038/s41562-026-02568-4 Journal information: Nature Human Behaviour