Einstein Researcher, Nir Barzilai, Tries to Unlock 鈥楾he Biology of Aging鈥
Lily Port is in the Galapagos Islands. When she returns, she is going to visit her daughter in Texas, then take a vacation to Florida. A few months ago she took
a trip to Austria and Hungary, traveling on the Danube River between Vienna and Budapest. Earlier last year, she journeyed to Australia and Singapore.
After decades of traveling, Port doesn鈥檛 seem to have slowed down 鈥 even though she鈥檚 97.
And while it鈥檚 easy to attribute Port鈥檚 longevity, at least in part, to her active lifestyle and can-do attitude, the genetic study she鈥檚 taking part in claims she鈥檇 live just as long smoking cigarettes and sitting on her couch.
Port is one of the more than 2,000 participants in , run by Dr. Nir Barzilai. The program aims to track those who remain healthy to an extended age 鈥 and their descendants 鈥 to study what he calls 鈥渢he biology of aging.鈥 What the study has found is the presence of 鈥渟uper genes鈥 鈥 certain DNA mutations, which are passed from generation to generation 鈥 that enable a person to live to an advanced age with few health complications.
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Surprising to many, the population that the project studies has been more overweight, exercised less and smoked more than the general public.
鈥淥f course I鈥檓 not saying if you smoke and are obese and don鈥檛 exercise you鈥檒l live to be 100,鈥 said Barzilai. 鈥淏ut if you have longevity genes, it really doesn鈥檛 matter, because you鈥檙e going to be protected.鈥 One participant in the study has smoked for 95 years 鈥 and she鈥檚 a healthy 108.
