WASHINGTON –
Many factors influence how long you live, such as diet, exercise, smoking, drinking, environment and other variables. It also helps not to get hit by a dump truck. But what about your genes? That has been a contentious question for decades.
A new study points to a larger role for genetics than previous research had indicated, estimating the contribution of genes to determining human lifespan at about 50%. That is roughly double what prior research concluded, and it mirrors the findings of lifespan studies in laboratory animals.
“Lifespan is undoubtedly shaped by many factors, including lifestyle, genes and, importantly, randomness — take for example genetically identical organisms raised in similar environments that die at different times,” said Ben Shenhar, a doctoral student in physics at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel and lead author of the study published on Thursday in the journal Science.