Living to 100 has become far more common in recent decades. Centenarians are now the fastest-growing age group in the world, with their numbers roughly doubling every ten years since the 1970s.
Researchers have long been interested in what allows some people not only to live longer but also to remain healthier in old age.
- A new Swedish study, published in GeroScience, examined health data from 44,000 people aged between 64 and 99 and followed them for up to 35 years.
- Of these, 1,224 people – just 2.7 per cent – lived to be 100. The vast majority of them were women.
The study is one of the largest to date, looking at biological markers in the blood and how they relate to exceptional longevity.
Researchers analysed twelve biomarkers linked to inflammation, metabolism, liver and kidney function, nutrition and anaemia.
These included glucose, cholesterol, creatinine, uric acid, iron levels and various liver enzymes.
The results showed that those who reached 100 tended to have lower levels of glucose, creatinine and uric acid from their sixties onwards.
While the differences in median values were often small, the centenarians rarely had extreme readings. For example, very few had glucose above 6.5 mmol/L or creatinine above 125 µmol/L earlier in life.
The findings also suggested that having very low total cholesterol or iron was linked to a lower chance of becoming a centenarian. On the other hand, higher levels of glucose, creatinine, uric acid and some liver function markers were associated with reduced odds of reaching 100.
The differences were not dramatic, but they were consistent enough to indicate a link between metabolic health, nutrition and longevity.
The study cannot say whether genes, lifestyle choices or a combination of both explain these biomarker patterns.
Still, maintaining stable glucose levels, supporting kidney and liver health and avoiding both unusually high and unusually low results may be part of the picture.
Chance may also play a role in exceptional longevity, but the fact that these differences could be seen decades before death suggests that our health in later life may be shaped much earlier than we think.
