Whenever we come across people who are aged 100 or above, we are forced to think about their secret of a long life. Till now, it has been believed that keys to a long life are sleeping and waking up on time, a healthy diet, and working out. But a recent study has shown that if one wants to cross the mark of 100 years of age, it is important to fall ill sometimes. Most of the times, we have heard our elders saying that falling ill again and again is not good, but the results of this latest study project a different picture.
The scientists of Boston University and Tufts Medical Centre have said that the secret to a life above 100 years of age is having a lot of experience of fighting infections. Paola Sebastiani, the writer of the study and biostatistician at the Tufts University said that the immune profile of people who have cross the 100-year age mark, shows a long history of coming into contact with infections and the capacity to cope with them. During the study, a unique gene was found in such people. But the scientists are also confident that a strong immune system is also an important factor for longevity.
After the DNAs of 7 people aged above 100 were studied, the common factor which was deduced was that all of those individuals had grappled with many bugs and viruses, and this why, B-cells, immune cells, and antibodies were found in large numbers in all of their bodies. Sebastiani further said that due to these very protective factors, these old people could survive pandemics like COVID-19 and the Spanish flu. During the study, blood samples of people aged between 100 and 119 were collected for analysis.
