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TUESDAY, Oct. 14 (HealthDayNews) -- For eons, society has attributed long life to certain vague and mysterious "good genes."
Now researchers appear to have identified one of these genes -- or, more specifically, a genetic mutation that may let people live into their 90s and even past 100.
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The gene in question governs a single amino acid in a protein that leads to the production of larger high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) particles. HDL is often referred to as "good" cholesterol, and LDL has the moniker of "bad" cholesterol. Apparently, these larger molecules protect against many diseases of aging, including heart disease, stroke and diabetes.
"This is the first gene that was associated with longevity," says Dr. Nir Barzilai, lead author of a study appearing in the Oct. 15 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. "I think there will be more."
"We know that centenarians in many cases seem to miss getting the major diseases that kill a lot of other people at much younger ages," says Winifred K. Rossi, special assistant for planning at the National Institute on Aging, which helped fund the study. "The question is why are these people so good, and what are the protective factors that help them get away from those major diseases."
While almost all the people that Barzilai has studied had larger-size molecules, only 25 percent had the genetic mutation. "There are other genes that are probably doing the same thing," he says.
And research that has not yet been published indicates this mutation may also have an effect on cancer and on the brain.
For the current study, Barzilai and his colleagues examined and took blood samples from 213 Ashkenazi Jewish men and women and 216 of their children. The average age of the parents was 98 and almost half were over 100; the range was 95 to 107. The children had an average age of about 68. These groups were compared to a control group.
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