The Secret To A Long Life: It's In The Genes

Americans are living longer, with a growing population of people in their 90s. What's responsible for this longevity, healthy lifestyles? Not really, researchers say.

In fact, it may comfort many consumers to learn that people who live to 95 or older are no more virtuous than the rest of us in terms of their diet, exercise routine or smoking and drinking habits, according to researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University.

Their findings, published in the online edition of Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, suggests that nature may be more important than nurture when it comes to living an exceptionally long life.

Nir Barzilai, M.D., was the senior author of the study, which tried to learn why centenarians live as long as they do.

The elderly participants in the study were asked about their lifestyles at age 70, considered representative of the lifestyle they’d followed for most of their adult lives. They answered questions about their weight and height so that their body mass index (BMI) could be calculated. They also provided information about their alcohol consumption, smoking habits, physical activity, and whether they ate a low-calorie, low-fat or low-salt diet.

Smokers and drinkers can have long lives

What did researchers discover? Overall, people with exceptional longevity did not have healthier habits than the comparison group in terms of BMI, smoking, physical activity, or diet.

For example, 27 percent of the elderly women and an equal percentage of women in the general population attempted to eat a low-calorie diet. Among long-living men, 24 percent consumed alcohol daily, compared with 22 percent of the general population. And only 43 percent of male centenarians reported engaging in regular exercise of moderate intensity, compared with 57 percent of men in the comparison group.

What long-living individuals may have going for them, researchers say, are an exceptionally strong set of genes.

“In previous studies of our centenarians, we’ve identified gene variants that exert particular physiology effects, such as causing significantly elevated levels of HDL or ‘good’ cholesterol,” said Barzilai. “This study suggests that centenarians may possess additional longevity genes that help to buffer them against the harmful effects of an unhealthy lifestyle.”

Don't go crazy

That's not to say that senior citizens should throw caution to the wind when it comes to lifestyle habitts.

While longevity genes may protect centenarians from bad habits, healthy lifestyle choices remain critical for the vast majority of the population, the researchers said.