Will You Live to 100?

KOMPAS.com - A genetic test which tells whether you will make it to your century has been developed by scientists. The computer program will give individuals their odds of reaching the age of 100 - and tell them whether their chances are higher or lower than average.

Its inventors, from the respected Boston University in the U.S., say it will allow those not blessed with the cocktail of 'centenarian genes' to make changes to their lifestyle to maximise the time they have.

But the breakthrough raises moral questions about the effects of being told your destiny - and about who picks up the pieces if the test results are wrong.

There is also the fear that insurance and pension firms could use the information to alter premiums and payouts. The researchers studied the DNA of 1,600 centenarians, including some as old as 119, and compared it with the DNA of others.

This highlighted 150 genetic changes which were more common in those who lived to a ripe old age. They could be broken down into 19 groups, or genetic 'signatures', the journal Science reports.

Researcher Dr Paola Sebastiani said: 'Some signatures correlate with the longest survival, other signatures correlate with the most delayed onset of age-related diseases such as dementia or cardiovascular disease.'

Understanding how these genes lengthen life or protect against illness could lead to new drugs to fight disease. The researchers are now completing work on a computer program which can tell whether someone is predisposed to a long life - as long as they have information on their genetic code to hand.

It could be available to other scientists within days, before being released to the public. The researchers are not patenting the information, meaning there is nothing to stop a biotech company creating an easy-to-use commercial kit.

But there are concerns about the reactions of those given the news that their life could be longer or shorter than they'd expected. And the researchers' method is only 77 per cent accurate - meaning almost a quarter of those tested could be told they didn't have what it takes to live to 100, when in fact they did.

One in 15 has the right combination of genes to live to 100, but just one in 600 actually makes it, meaning factors such as healthcare, diet and exercise are hugely important.