Who lives to 100?

Executive summary

* This week’s study is from Sweden. It aimed to see if any biomarkers (blood test measures) were different in people who lived to 100 (centenarians) vs those who died before this birthday.

* It followed 45,000 Swedish people for up to 35 years. It measured 12 biomarkers (measures of metabolic, kidney and liver health etc).

* It found that 10 out of 12 markers were different in those who lived to 100.

* The markers were largely consistent for men and women, and they showed up when people were aged 64-74. Hence the markers enabled a prediction from years earlier of who would be more likely to reach 100.

* Those who reached 100 had higher total cholesterol, lower glucose, lower creatinine (a kidney marker), much lower uric acid, lower liver markers, and better iron markers.

* The paper did not explore what interventions people could make to improve these markers. (Apart from noting that a number of markers of alcohol intake were lower in centenarians.)