What Is The Secret To Living Beyond 100?

How do some people live beyond 100 years?

The secret could be low levels of inflammation. The long-term "overactivation of the immune response" is probably helping the prolonging of age, suggests a new study of centenarians from researchers in England and Japan, according to thehuffingtonpost.

Those who have low markers of chronic inflammation also are less likely to grow old. Hence, blocking off inflammation could be the cause of long lives and health.

"Centenarians and supercentenarians are different -- put simply, they age slower," Dr. Thomas von Zglinicki, a cellular gerontologist at Newcastle University and the study's lead author, said in a written statement. "They can ward off diseases for much longer than the general population."

Dr. Cheri Gostic, another geriatric specialist at Stony Brook University agreed that the findings, published online last week in the journal EBioMedicine is expected .

"Research has demonstrated that chronic systemic inflammation is a key factor in the development of many common chronic diseases, including ... heart attacks, peripheral vascular disease and most strokes," Gostic told The Huffington Post. "Old age does not cause death; disease does. If one can minimize inflammation in the body and reduce the risk or progression of disease, then it makes sense that individuals have a better chance to live longer."

Such centenarians also had longer telomeres or caps on the end of DNA strands to shield chromosomes from aging and poor health.

But after reaching 100, it was found that "inflammation levels rather than telomere length" leads to healthier aging and cognitive ability.

Information was gathered from 1,500 adults between 50 and 115 years old, including 684 centenarians or supercentenarians and 167 children of centenarians. Other factors that helped to keep them healthy included metabolism, blood cell count, telomere length, inflammation, and liver and kidney function.

They found that centenarians with the "lowest levels of markers for chronic inflammation" were able to exhibit the best cognition and independence. Less inflammation also led to the greatest longevity.

Hence, it is inflammation that is the strongest predictor of cognitive capacity in semi-supercentenarians, rather than only gender or biological age.