London : Scientists have cracked the secret of why some people live a healthy and physically independent life over the age of 100: long telemores and low inflammation, reports PTI.
For the first time, a team of experts from Newcastle University’s Institute for Ageing and Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, explored which biological and pathological processes may be the most important for successful ageing after 100 years of age.
They identified that to live past the age of 100 you must keep inflammation down in the body and telomeres long – which are the part of human cells that affect how our cells age.
Severe inflammation is part of many diseases in the old, such as diabetes or diseases attacking the bones or the body’s joints, and chronic inflammation can develop from any of them.
“Centenarians and supercentenarians are different – put simply, they age slower. They can ward off diseases for much longer than the general population,” said Professor Thomas von Zglinicki, from Newcastle University’s Institute for Ageing.
In groups of people aged 105 and over (semi-supercentenarians), those 100 to 104 (centenarians), those nearly 100 and their offspring, the team measured a number of health markers which they believe contribute towards successful ageing, including blood cell numbers, metabolism, liver and kidney function, inflammation and telomere length.
