New research explains the reason some people live to 100 and some don't
If you’ve got dreams of becoming a centenarians, some new research has determined how likely it’ll be that you’ll hit 100.
With there only being few of the US’s population being 100 and over, it’s safe to say that most won’t make it.
However, maybe this data could help people to find out their odds, and also if there’s anything they can do to improve their chances.
For a long time, we’ve had people look into longevity; people dedicate their lives to living longer (Bryan Johnson, I’m looking at you) and studying those over 100 to attempt to link a common denominator.
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But from diets and lifestyles, centenarians all think they’ve got the solution, but it’s generally different per person.
New research, though, may have figured out the factors that contribute to a longer life.
It’s all in your habits, and your genealogy.
It all began when Karl-Heinz Krause, professor emeritus at UNIGE’s Faculty of Medicine and co-author of the study, and his team, analyzed blood samples of centenarians, octogenarians, and people between 30 to 60 to find out what’s going on.
After looking into the 724 proteins in the blood serum, they essentially were able to come to the conclusion that those over the age of 100 typically age differently than everyone else, because they had 37 proteins that are similar to those found in younger age groups.
These proteins could very well be the key.
According to the study, five of the proteins were linked to oxidative stress, which the Cleveland Clinic describes as ‘an imbalance of free radicals and antioxidants in your body that leads to cell damage.’
Its website claims oxidative stress ‘plays a role in many conditions like cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and heart disease’ and that there are many things that can cause this stress, such as toxins from cigarette smoke, or ‘environmental irritants’.
Basically, when you don’t have enough antioxidants in your system and too many free radicals, it can cause trouble.
Shockingly, the study found that those analyzed over 100 years old had less antioxidant proteins in their system, but unlike for you and me, this didn’t backfire on them at their age.
“The answer is very clear: centenarians have significantly lower levels of antioxidant proteins than the standard geriatric population,” said Krause.
“At first glance this seems counterintuitive, but it shows that because oxidative stress is so much lower, they simply need fewer antioxidant proteins to keep it in check,” he said.
The study also found proteins that keep tissues strong were at the same levels in the younger participants.
There were also less proteins linked to fat metabolism, which typically increases as we age, and a protein that breaks down GLP-1 (DPP-4).
So, what we can take away from this is that if you stay away from toxins, load up on antioxidants, and hope your genetic material is good to you as you age – you might just live as long as the control group.
Britt Jones