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The long lifespans of the Okinawa people, meanwhile, seem to develop from a healthy diet of vegetables, soy and grains, along with a low-stress work routine and close-knit social norms.
For those among us who haven't yet hit 100, such exceptional longevity can seem like a futile endeavor -- especially because the best way to get there remains mostly a mystery. But now scientists have identified what they think are the genes responsible for "extreme longevity" -- living 100 years or longer.
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Montana resident Walter Breuning turned 113 in September. Just one in 6,000 people lives to be 100, and one in 7 million makes it past 110.
The findings, published in this week's issue of Science, introduce the possibility that we might all be imbued with the knowledge, early in life, of whether we've got a shot at living to 100 and beyond, and how we can boost our odds.
Researchers at the Boston University School of Public Health, Boston Medical Center and Italy's Institute for Biomedical Technology scanned the genomes of 1,055 centenarians, all of whom lived anywhere from 95 to 119 years.
Although average lifespans have increased in the past several decades, living for more than a century remains rare. About one in 6,000 people lives to be 100, and one in 7 million lives to be a "supercentenarian" -- surviving past 110.
Many of the study participants were from the ongoing New England Centenarian Study, which has already made significant strides in demonstrating the unique differences between centenarians and people with average lifespans.
"Ninety percent of centenarians are disability-free at age 93," Dr. Tom Perls, leader of the New England Centenarian Study and a co-author of this research, told reporters. "So these people aren't just living a long life -- they're aging well too."
Perls and his colleagues compared the genomes to those of 1,267 control subjects. From there, the team created a genetic model that could predict, with 77 percent accuracy, whether someone would live into the triple digits.
And the researchers' work didn't stop there. More than 90 percent of the centenarians fell into 19 different clusters of "genomic signatures," each of which is tied to key features of life expectancy, including the risk of different age-related ailments like cardiovascular disease and Alzheimer's and the ability to withstand vulnerability to health problems.
"This tells us that there are different genetic pathways to centenarianism," said Dr. Paola Sebastiani, the study's lead author, "and reinforces just how complex longevity really is."
Of course, genes aren't the only component to long life. Lifestyle choices, like exercise and smoking, are also significant. And that might be precisely where this research becomes invaluable -- along with remarkable, highly disputed social implications.
By identifying how different groups of genes interact to influence lifespan, and one's vulnerability to lifestyle choices and health problems, the study could spur a revolution in personalized medicine. After a genome is scanned, doctors could counsel their patients on lifestyle choices to optimize the impact of their genetic signatures.
But the information could also be used by companies intent on marketing a test, based on the genetic model, designed to offer an at-home assessment of one's longevity likelihood.
"We hope this research is used with caution, and we're a ways away from understanding the pathways of the genes, and their interactions with lifestyle factors, that play into longevity," Perls said. "Will that stop companies? Certainly not."
In an effort to bolster consumer empowerment, the team is already working on a website to help people interpret their at-home test results. Ideally, though, they'd like to see the study spur more research into the inner workings of the genetic model. Equipped with additional data, physicians could better advise patients on their test results.
Despite the exceptional inroads achieved by the study, questions do persist. For example, science has yet to determine why 85 percent of centenarians are women. This study didn't uncover any genetic differences that could explain where men seem to fall short, although researchers suspect that men are somehow more vulnerable to dying from age-related illnesses.
And while the benefits of genetic longevity research -- from screenings for age-related illnesses to personalized lifestyle changes -- will be widespread, most of us will likely be resigned to, at best, centenarian status.
Forty percent of study participants who had achieved supercentenarian status shared three genetic signatures, making it likely that genes play a key role in that rare, ultra-long lifespan.
"Extreme longevity is not some vacuous entity that no one can figure out," Perls said. "This opens a lot of doors to future research, and a lot of possibilities down the road."
