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| Scientists have unlocked the secret to living longer and it's to do with your genes |
SCIENTISTS have revealed the secret to living to 100 years-old.
Living to 100 is the dream for many, but now this health holy grail could be a reality thanks to a new discovery about the genes most likely to keep us alive for longer.
In the pursuit of the secret to longer life, researchers explored the genetic make up of centenarians and compared them to those under 100 years of age.
Rather than having anti-ageing genes, the team discovered that those living longer had fewer BAD variants of the four genes causing chronic diseases, meaning they were less likely to get sick or develop disease.
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| Four important genes indicate whether someone will live longer |
These four genes are: ABO, which determines blood group, CDKN2B, an area involved in heart disease; SH2B3, which has been shown to extend lifespan in fruit flies; and one of the HLA genes that needs to be matched for organ transplants to avoid rejection.
The scientists also looked at a gene connected to Alzheimers and believe that the protective variant, plus the other four hold the secret to a longer life.
It was previously assumed that centenarians possessed anti-ageing genes and it was these allowing them to reach 100.
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| One of the genes indicates someone's risk of heart disease |
His team studied 800 people over 100 and about 5,000 over 90, but he narrowed the focus to genes known to influence age-related diseases.
By solely focussing on diseases-causing genes alone, the team were then able to identify the key DNA responsible for a longer life.
Professor Kim said: “Because you search through hundreds of thousands, and now millions of variants, there is a lot of noise. So it makes it difficult to see the signal amidst all the noise.”
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| Researchers hope this could provide the secret to why some people live longer than others |
“It seems intuitively obvious, that avoiding disease is part of the strategy of becoming a centenarian.
“But there is a really, really strong dogma in the field that there was no depletion of disease genes in centenarians, and that all of their survival benefit was coming from protection from anti-aging genes. I think they were wrong.”
He added: “We found that, at least in part, they live longer because they don’t get sick.”
The study will be published in PLOS Genetics.
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