There’s no escaping the unrelenting passage of time, but supercentenarians who live to see their 110th birthday have a peculiar ability to postpone the inevitable.
A thorough health evaluation of one of the world’s oldest people, Maria Branyas, suggests that one of the reasons she lived to 117 was that she possessed an exceptionally young genome.
Some of her rare genetic variants are linked to longevity, immune function, and a healthy heart and brain.
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According to a team led by scientists at the Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute in Barcelona, Branyas had cells that “felt” or “behaved” as though they were much younger than her chronological age.
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Despite her advanced years, her immune system and gut microbiome both had markers that matched much younger cohorts. She also displayed extremely low levels of ‘bad’ cholesterol and triglycerides, and very high levels of ‘good’ cholesterol.
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While eating a Mediterranean diet high in yogurt may have played a role in her lengthy life, extreme longevity is probably influenced by a wide range of genetic and environmental variables.
