Mar 29, 2025 13:00:00

Research reveals that environment and choice, rather than genes, influence a person's lifespan

Previous research has revealed that

the length of genes plays a major role in human lifespan, but a research team from Harvard Medical School and other institutions has reported that living environment and lifestyle are more important than genes when it comes to longevity.

Integrating the environmental and genetic architectures of aging and mortality | Nature Medicine
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-024-03483-9

How long will you live? New evidence says it's much more about your choices than your genes

https://theconversation.com/how-long-will-you-live-new-evidence-says-its-much-more-about-your-choices-than-your-genes-251054

This time, a research team led by Austin Argentieri of Harvard Medical School analyzed genetic information, medical records, lifestyle information, and other information from 492,567 people collected in the UK Biobank, a large biobank in the UK. In addition, the research team used a technique called ' proteomic profiling ,' which examines how proteins in the body change over time at the molecular level and identifies a person's age, to estimate how quickly an individual's body is actually aging. Blood samples from more than 45,000 participants were used for proteomic profiling.

The research team assessed 164 environmental factors and genetic predisposing factors to the participants' disease. Environmental factors included lifestyle differences, such as smoking and amount of physical activity, as well as social factors, such as living conditions, household income and employment status, and early life factors, such as childhood weight.

In addition, the team is investigating how these environmental and genetic factors are related to 22 major age-related diseases, such as coronary artery disease and type 2 diabetes, mortality, and biological aging as determined by proteomic profiling. These analyses will enable the team to estimate the relationship between environmental and genetic factors and aging and premature mortality.

The analysis revealed that, in terms of disease-related mortality, age and sex were associated with about half of the variation in people's lifespan, as the research team expected. Furthermore, environmental factors accounted for about 17% of the variation in lifespan, while genetic factors accounted for less than 2%. This suggests that environmental factors have a much greater impact on health and longevity than genetic factors.

In particular, environmental factors have the greatest impact on lung, heart, and liver diseases, while genetic factors are strongly associated with the development of breast cancer, ovarian cancer, prostate cancer, and dementia.

According to the research team, the environmental factors that had the greatest influence on premature death and biological aging included smoking status, socioeconomic status, physical activity level, and living conditions. It was also found that being tall at age 10 was associated with a shorter life expectancy. The research team did not reveal the reason for this, but the results are consistent with

previous research that found that 'tall people are more likely to die earlier.'

Additionally, based on the results of their proteomic profiling, the team claims there is no association between diet and biological aging, contradicting previous research that suggests dietary patterns play a key role in chronic disease risk and longevity.

However, Hassan Valley, Associate Professor of Epidemiology at Deakin University, pointed out that 'the number of participants in the biological ageing study was too small for the research team to ascertain the true impact of diet on ageing.' 'The dietary data in this study was self-reported, and it is likely that the quality of the diet reported was relatively poor.' He added, 'Regardless of the results of this study, it is no exaggeration to say that the food we eat is the most important pillar of our health and longevity.'

Vallee also criticized the study, saying, 'It is possible that this study underestimates the role of genetic factors in longevity. Health and longevity are shaped by interactions between environmental and genetic factors, and this study may not have fully captured the complexity of these interactions.'

Still, 'it's worth noting that this study showed that many factors that are not necessarily under an individual's control, such as household income, home ownership and employment status, were associated with longer lifespan. This study highlights that while we may inherit certain genetic risks, what we eat, how we exercise and how we interact with the world are important in determining how healthy we are and how long we live,' Vallee said.