Anish Vij
Scientists believe they may have found the secret to living past the age of 100.
To some, the thought of living into your hundreds is a dream, while for others, it's the complete opposite.
But it seems that 70 percent of American adults actually want to live to 100, a 2022 poll by Edward Jones and Age Wave of 11,000 people revealed.
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And now, researchers at Boston University and Tufts Medical Center have taken it upon themselves to delve a bit deeper into what it takes to prolong your existence in this chaotic world.
The researchers analysed the DNA samples of seven centenarians and looked at their peripheral blood mononuclear cells, a category of immune cells found in the blood.
"We assembled and analyzed what is, to our knowledge, the largest single-cell dataset of centenarian subjects that allowed us to define unique features of this population that support the identification of molecular and lifestyle factors contributing to their longevity," said senior author Stefano Monti, PhD, associate professor of medicine at the School of Medicine.
Usually the older you get, the weaker your immune system gets when fighting off infection and illnesses.
However, the study found that in all seven cases, there was a highly functioning immune system which helped them fight off and recover from many types of illnesses.
Their distinct composition of immune cells is what has kept them living for so long.
“The immune profiles that we observed in the centenarians confirms a long history of exposure to infections and capacity to recover from them and provide support to the hypothesis that centenarians are enriched for protective factors that increase their ability to recover from infections,” senior author Paola Sebastiani, director of Tufts’ Center for Quantitative Methods and Data Science, also said.
So to put it simply: a strong immune system = a long life.
This follows on from a 106-year-old Indigenous tattoo artist - Maria Oggay - who became a viral sensation after making her debut appearance on Vogue's latest April issue on Friday (31 March), titled 'Next of Skin'.
Vogue Philippines captioned the reveal: "Apo Maria 'Whang-Od' Oggay symbolizes the strength and beauty of the Filipino spirit.
"Heralded as the last mambabatok of her generation, she has imprinted the symbols of the Kalinga tribe signifying strength, bravery & beauty on the skin."
Whang-Od’s entire life is beautifully 'inscribed in her skin' from 'accomplishments to ailments and names of long-gone lovers'.
One Twitter user commented: "This is the best Vogue PH cover so far."
"Best Vogue cover ever. Bravo!" echoed a second, while a third added: "No one will ever top this. Amazing."