A newly discovered suite of 150 "long life" variants in about 70 genes allows scientists to guess, with 77 percent accuracy, whether a person can live into their late 90s or longer, a new study says.
These long-life gene variants, the authors speculate, may suppress genes associated with ailments often linked to aging, such as dementia and heart problems.
"This is just a genetic predisposition," cautioned study leader Paola Sebastiani, a biostatistician at the Boston University School of Public Health. "It doesn't mean that you're going to live to be a hundred. Many things can happen in life."
The research may lead to longer lives, but that would be so far in the future that our best bet is still a healthy lifestyle. Link