Cholesterol gene linked to longevity
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- CarolynGillis
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Study: Supersize body particles may be key to reaching old age
A gene variant found in people of Ashkenazi Jewish descent who remain mentally sharp likely leads to a longer life If you live to 100, as roughly one in every 10,000 people do, you will likely want both your mind and body intact. Researchers have now discovered a gene that accomplishes just that, apparently protecting the brain as well as prolonging life.
A study in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that the tendency to have large cholesterol particles can be inborn.
The study, led by Dr. Nir Barzilai, director of the Institute for Aging Research at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, found that people in their late 90s and beyond are more likely to have a gene variation that causes large particles of both HDL cholesterol — the good variety — and LDL cholesterol, the bad kind.
“We basically think the size is necessary for longevity,” Barzilai said.
The results are intriguing and support the notion that “exceptional longevity may depend, at least in part, on inheriting ‘good’ genes,” said Anna McCormick of the National Institute on Aging, which helped fund the study.
Nevertheless, while genes probably determine particle size, recent research has suggested that exercise can enlarge the particles.
A gene variant found in people of Ashkenazi Jewish descent who remain mentally sharp likely leads to a longer life If you live to 100, as roughly one in every 10,000 people do, you will likely want both your mind and body intact. Researchers have now discovered a gene that accomplishes just that, apparently protecting the brain as well as prolonging life.
A study in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that the tendency to have large cholesterol particles can be inborn.
The study, led by Dr. Nir Barzilai, director of the Institute for Aging Research at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, found that people in their late 90s and beyond are more likely to have a gene variation that causes large particles of both HDL cholesterol — the good variety — and LDL cholesterol, the bad kind.
“We basically think the size is necessary for longevity,” Barzilai said.
The results are intriguing and support the notion that “exceptional longevity may depend, at least in part, on inheriting ‘good’ genes,” said Anna McCormick of the National Institute on Aging, which helped fund the study.
Nevertheless, while genes probably determine particle size, recent research has suggested that exercise can enlarge the particles.
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CarolynGillis
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Maybe they were giving us statins to lower our cholesterol and it is killing us instead of helping us...some of us anyway. Mine was 300 and I am on a Vegan diet now so it might be lower naturally...not as worried about that as i would be about being on the drugs with side effects..we don't know the whole stories of how our bodies work..let's not mess with them.
- 3 years ago
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CarolynGillis
