It was once considered remarkable to live to the ripe old age of 100. But now scientists are investigating the genetics of supercentenarians, people who live to be 110 or older.
Most people have the genetics to make for a lifespan of 80 or more, and scientists say that beneficial behavioral changes like diet and exercise can add about five years, according to a Washington Post story. But recent studies looking at the genes of people who live to 110 or older suggest that these supercentenarians may have genetic advantages that confer longer living.
A 2012 study in the journal PLoS1, for example, suggested that patterns in a complex of 280 genes could be associated with living to supercentenarian status. But a Stanford University project that sequenced the genomes of 17 living supercentenarians found no obvious genetic commonalities.
The New England Centenarian Study includes more than 2,000 participants, including 150 supercentenarians and 500 children of centenarians who may have inherited genes favorable to longer living. Since many centenarians and supercentenarians are not only living longer but are living healthier than previous generations, the researchers hope to learn how certain healthy behaviors may combine with genetics to foster long lives.
But some note that unhealthy behaviors don’t always point to earlier death: the world’s longest living person, 122-year-old Jeanne Calment, is said to have frequently enjoyed wine and cigarettes.