SAN DIEGO, Calif. – (Ivanhoe Newswire) — Bob Hope did it. George Burns, too. And Betty White was right on the brink when she passed away. It’s not so unusual any more living to 100. In fact, there are half a million people worldwide who are at least 100 years old. By 2050, that number is expected to grow to 3.7 million. Scientists actually are predicting that children born today will, on average, live to be over 120 years old. What does the future of aging have in store for us?
When 101-year-old Olive “Ollie” Fowler was born, Warren G. Harding was US president. Milk was 33 cents. She says it was a much simpler time.
“We walked and rode bikes and nobody had cars, because nobody had money.” States Ollie.
Ollie met Sid, her husband for 70 years, when they were teens on the ice in Canada. Today, Ollie is part of a growing number of centenarians. So, why now? What is the future of aging? Epidemiologist Andrea LaCroix is making it her mission to find out.
“Your chronological age is a certain number, whereas our biological age is a measure of how fast we’re aging.” Explains LaCrois.
Professor LaCroix believes epigenetics is key. Exposures in the environment and everyday stressors can impact your genes, causing some people to live longer than others.
“I think there probably are ways to slow down epigenetic age acceleration.” States LaCroix.
Another area of research, identifying cells that impact metabolism and inflammation. Scientists are exploring whether interventions such as caloric restriction, fasting, exercise and certain drugs turn back time on those cells and extend life.
“We’re on our way to finding a biomarker of biological aging that can be measured in the blood and that can help us understand where we are with respect to our aging process, over and above our chronological age.” Says LaCroix.
Researchers also want to know how microbiomes living in our bodies impact longevity.
LaCroix says, “There may be one day supplements or things that we can take that help us to age slower.”
Until then, Ollie says she will stick with what she knows works … surrounding herself with family and lots of love.
“You have to kiss each other good night, every night.” Says Ollie.
Ollie says longevity runs in her family – her father lived to be 98 and her mother was 91. She lost Sid 10 years ago. He died at age 91 at home in his bed. Ollie says she drove herself around town until five years ago, giving up her car keys at 96. And her last trip was just a few months ago. Ollie missed her grandchildren, so she flew to Canada to visit everyone.
Contributors to this news report include: Marsha Lewis, Producer; Roque Correa, Editor.
Sources:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/presidents/warren-g-harding/
www.nature.com/articles/s43587-022-00357-y
LIVING TO 100 AND BEYOND: OLLIE’S TALE
REPORT #3083
BACKGROUND: A centenarian is someone who is 100 or more years old. About one in every 5,000 people in the United States is a centenarian, and about 85 percent of them are women. As the New England Centenarian Study has shown, centenarians age slowly, delaying age-related diseases until much later in life. Genetics plays a huge role in our longevity. While getting to age 90 is roughly 30 percent genetics and 70 percent health behaviors, it changes by age 110 and is likely the opposite, or 70 percent genetic. A few things a person can do to increase the chances of living longer are managing stress; eat right and keep meat consumption to a minimum; don’t smoke; and exercise regularly.
(Source: https://www.bu.edu/articles/2022/why-do-people-live-to-100-and-how/)
CHRONOLOGICAL AGE VS BIOLOGICAL AGE: Chronological age is the number of years a person has been alive, while biological age refers to how old a persons’ cells and tissues are based on physiological evidence. Research suggests that biological age is more accurate than chronological age for predicting the onset of disease and death. Chronological age is unchangeable, meaning you were born on a particular day and have spent a certain amount of time on the planet. Research shows aging can be impacted by external factors such as diet, exercise, stress, smoking, sleeping habits, and physical environment. Biological age is affected by these things and more, and experts say the state of a person’s DNA is a reflection of all those factors. Biological age may predict things like whether you’ll develop diabetes or dementia, or how soon you’ll die, and may someday become the more important number for your doctor.
(Source: https://www.verywellhealth.com/what-is-chronological-age-2223384)
NEW RESEACH IN LIVING LONGER: A new study led by researchers from Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine and Tufts Medical Center, finds centenarians harbor distinct immune cell type composition and activity and possess highly functional immune systems. According to the researchers, when people are exposed to infections and recover from them, their immune system learns to adapt, but this ability to respond declines as we age. “The immune profiles that we observed in the centenarians confirms a long history of exposure to infections and capacity to recover from them and provide support to the hypothesis that centenarians are enriched for protective factors that increase their ability to recover from infections,” said senior author Paola Sebastiani, PhD, director, Center for Quantitative Methods and Data Science, Institute for Clinical Research and Health Policy Studies at Tufts Medical Center. Researchers believe these findings provide a foundation to investigate mechanisms of immune resilience likely contributing to extreme longevity as a target for healthy aging therapeutics.
(Source: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/03/230331120650.htm)
* For More Information, Contact: Yadira Galindo
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