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New Pill 'Will Help People Live Past 100'
Scientists are on the verge of developing a 'long life' super pill which could help people live past 100, according to experts. Skip related content
The drug, which could be ready for testing within three years, is designed to mimic the actions of three 'super genes' which all significantly increase the chances of living past 100.
Two of the genes increase the production of so-called good cholesterol in the body, reducing the risk of heart disease and stroke, while the third helps to prevent diabetes.
People born with the genes are 20 times more likely to live past 100, and 80% less likely to develop Alzheimer's.
Even being overweight or a heavy smoker does not stop a third of those with the genes reaching a century.
The genes were discovered in a group of 500 Ashkenazi Jews living in New York with an average age of 100.
They were chosen after previous studies found they had a very specific genetic footprint because their bloodline had been kept very pure.
Although a third of the group were obese or had smoked two packets of cigarettes a day for more than 40 years, they all shared the three genes that extended life expectancy.
Those with the longevity genes had a one in 500 chance of reaching the age of 100, compared with a one in 10,000 chance in the rest of the population.
Dr Nir Barzilai, a director at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, said that several laboratories were now in the process of creating a pill to trigger the same effects as the genes.
He expects the first of the drugs to be ready for testing within three years.
:: The findings are revealed in a Horizon documentary to be shown on television tonight.
New Pill 'Will Help People Live Past 100' - Yahoo! News UK
Scientists are on the verge of developing a 'long life' super pill which could help people live past 100, according to experts. Skip related content
The drug, which could be ready for testing within three years, is designed to mimic the actions of three 'super genes' which all significantly increase the chances of living past 100.
Two of the genes increase the production of so-called good cholesterol in the body, reducing the risk of heart disease and stroke, while the third helps to prevent diabetes.
People born with the genes are 20 times more likely to live past 100, and 80% less likely to develop Alzheimer's.
Even being overweight or a heavy smoker does not stop a third of those with the genes reaching a century.
The genes were discovered in a group of 500 Ashkenazi Jews living in New York with an average age of 100.
They were chosen after previous studies found they had a very specific genetic footprint because their bloodline had been kept very pure.
Although a third of the group were obese or had smoked two packets of cigarettes a day for more than 40 years, they all shared the three genes that extended life expectancy.
Those with the longevity genes had a one in 500 chance of reaching the age of 100, compared with a one in 10,000 chance in the rest of the population.
Dr Nir Barzilai, a director at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, said that several laboratories were now in the process of creating a pill to trigger the same effects as the genes.
He expects the first of the drugs to be ready for testing within three years.
:: The findings are revealed in a Horizon documentary to be shown on television tonight.
New Pill 'Will Help People Live Past 100' - Yahoo! News UK
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