How do you live to be a centenarian? The answer to this may be quite confusing as different people would rattle off dissimilar, even contradicting, tips. Some said chocolate is their secret to living longer, while others said that coffee is it. Others said cigarettes are the key, while some centenarians count sleeping a lot as essential, as well as drinking red wine.
However, in a new study led by Stanford University professor of developmental biology and genetics, Stuart Kim, it appears that the main key to longevity is in the genes.
"Centenarians may have fewer of the genes that contribute to major chronic diseases," Time relayed. "That doesn't mean that people who live to their 100s also don't possess some protective anti-aging genes as well, but Kim's study shows that they don't experience as much disease as people who are shorter-lived."
Further, Kim's findings apparently ran counter to the existing "dogma" among scientists in the said field that centenarians do have as many "disease genes" as the average person and that their lengthy survival is down to the protection they get from anti-aging genes.
"It seems intuitively obvious, that avoiding disease is part of the strategy of becoming a centenarian," Kim explained. "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."
Kim's efforts enabled the identification of four genes that influence longevity, as noted by New Scientist: "ABO Determines blood group, CDKN2B helps regulate cellular life cycles, SH2B3 Has been shown to extend lifespan in fruit flies."
"One of the HLA genes, which are involved in how the immune system recognises the body's own cells," it added.
A fifth aspect that was of interest in the study was "one that had never been linked to longevity before, and Kim admits that not much is known about how it might contribute to longer life."
The researchers' conclusion was a result of using a new way to analyze genes.
"He made the assumption that disease genes can reduce the chances of someone reaching their 100s, and focused just on known disease-causing genes in his analysis," Time said, as opposed to the usual way of comparing genomes of average people and centenarians.
"Healthy living, diet, exercise - that sort of stuff will benefit you, and you might lead a life longer by maybe five years," Kim said in a previous interview with The Washington Post. "But to live 30 years longer, you probably need a different genetic background."
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