By Cheyenne Macdonald For Dailymail.com
Published: 02:19 GMT, 22 February 2019 | Updated: 02:19 GMT, 22 February 2019
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A diet of human food, be it scraps foraged from the garbage or crops grown for our consumption, may be driving wild bears to an earlier grave.
New research has found that bears who eat human food ahead of their winter tend to hibernate for a shorter period of time.
And this, in turn, has been associated with accelerated cellular aging.
The findings suggest the increased availability of human food may be working against wild populations in the long-term, potentially even having effects on the molecular level.
A diet of human food, be it scraps foraged from the garbage or crops grown for our consumption, may be driving wild bears to an earlier grave. File photo
Researchers have warned of numerous consequences that result from the consumption of human food.
A new study found it can cause them to spend less time hibernating and potentially speed up cellular aging.
But, there are indirect effects, too.
Eating human food has been linked to 'reduced survival (due to vehicle collisions,
