Scientists discover that people who live past 90 have key differences in their blood

Centenarians have become the fastest-growing demographic group in the world, with numbers approximately doubling every 10 years since the 1970s.

Many researchers have sought out the factors and contributors that determine a long and healthy life. The dissolution isn't new either, with Plato and Aristotle writing about the ageing process over 2,300 years ago.

Understanding what is behind living a longer life involves unravelling the complex interplay of genetic predisposition and lifestyle factors and how they interact.

In a study published in GeroScience, researches have unveiled common biomarkers, including levels of cholesterol and glucose, in people who live past 90.

The study is one of the largest that has been conducted in this area, comparing biomarker profiles measured throughout life among those who lived to be over the age of 100 and their shorter-lived peers.

Data came from 44,000 Swedes who underwent health assessments at ages 64-99. These participants were then followed through Swedish register data for up to 35 years. Of these people, 2.7 percent (1,224) lived to be 100 years old. 85 percent of these centenarians were female.

The study's findings conduced that lower levels of glucose, creatinine - which is linked to kidney function and uric acid, a waste product in the body caused by the digestion of certain foods - were linked to those who made it to their 100th birthday. The findings suggest a potential link between metabolic health, nutrition, and exceptional longevity.

In terms of lifestyle factors, the study didn't allow for any conclusions to be made, but the authors of the study added that it's reasonable for factors such as nutrition and alcohol intake play a role.

Overall, the fact that differences in biomarkers could be observed a long time before death suggests that genes and lifestyle play a role, but of course, chance likely has an input too.

This article was first published on October 16, 2023

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