New study finds no evidence that maximum lifespan
has stopped increasing
McGill University
Emma Morano passed
away last April. At 117 years old, the Italian woman was the oldest known
living human being.
Super- centenarians,
such as Morano and Jeanne Calment of France, who famously lived to be 122 years
old, continue to fascinate scientists and have led them to wonder just how long
humans can live.
A study published in
Nature last October concluded that the upper limit of human age is peaking at
around 115 years.
Now, however, a new
study in Nature by McGill University biologists Bryan G.
Hughes and Siegfried Hekimi comes to a starkly different conclusion.
By analyzing the lifespan of the longest-living individuals from the USA, the UK, France and Japan for each year since 1968, Hekimi and Hughes found no evidence for such a limit, and if such a maximum exists, it has yet to be reached or identified, Hekimi says.
Far into the foreseeable future
"We just don't
know what the age limit might be. In fact, by extending trend lines, we can
show that maximum and average lifespans, could continue to increase far into
the foreseeable future," Hekimi says.
Many people are aware
of what has happened with average lifespans. In 1920, for example, the average
newborn Canadian could expect to live 60 years; a Canadian born in 1980 could
expect 76 years, and today, life expectancy has jumped to 82 years. Maximum
lifespan seems to follow the same trend.
It's impossible to
predict what future lifespans in humans might look like, Hekimi says. Some
scientists argue that technology, medical interventions, and improvements in
living conditions could all push back the upper limit.
"It's hard to
guess," Hekimi adds. "Three hundred years ago, many people lived only
short lives. If we would have told them that one day most humans might live up
to 100, they would have said we were crazy."
