Reader Perry pointed me to this NY Times article about Dr. Nir Barzilai, the Director of the Institute for Aging Research at New York's Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Barzilai is taking a close look at some 300 Ashkenazi Jews who have made it to an avergae age of 100. Barzilai wants to know what their secret is.
I wondered why people born at the beginning of the last century who are still alive are relatively healthy. I wondered what they had in their genes that was special. When they were born, the average life expectancy was 40. What made it possible for them to live more than twice the average? These days, so many scientists look for the genes for specific diseases. I wanted to go the opposite way, look for genes that helped people live healthier and longer lives.
Barzilai explains why it's important to use a homogenous population when doing such a study — it makes the effective genes easier to isolate. He also gives the lie to the story of the long-lived Georgians who achieve the century mark by eating yogurt:
We think that claim may be inaccurate. There may be a history of people there exaggerating their longevity because Stalin, who was Georgian, wanted it known that Georgians were long-lived. Under Communism, people were exaggerating their age, bringing in their grandparents' identity cards when dealing with officials.
Shoulda known!
It's a fascinating interview. Read the whole thing.
Posted by Phil at February 24, 2004 06:32 PM | TrackBackGiven the three-decade estimate for the effectiveness of this particular genetic benefit, it's a good candidate for a therapy once people know more. Odds are good however, given the recent nature of the discoveries relating to lipoprotein size, that it's more complex than it first appears.
Good to have targets to work towards, though, and having one now that could add 30 healthy years to life is very welcome.
Posted by: Reason at February 24, 2004 08:45 PM