Human lifespan have an ‘absolute limit’ of 150 years claims scientists

A new study shows that humans can live for 120 to 150 years, but they cannot exceed the “absolute limit” of the human lifespan. 

This study was published online on May 25 in the journal Nature Communications. Researchers used mathematical models to predict that after the age of 120 to 150, the human body will completely lose the ability to recover from stress such as illness and injury. This can lead to death. Researchers believe that if therapies that can extend the body’s elasticity are developed, they can make humans live longer and healthier.

Studies like are “based on population history and current data,” Judith Campisi, a professor at the Buck Institute for Aging in Novato, California, told Live Science. Campsey added, “This is an assumption, but it is based on good numbers.” (Campisi is not involved in this new study).

To check the absolute limit if human lifespan, the researchers analyzed large data sets from the United States, the United Kingdom, and Russia, which included anonymous medical data from more than 500,000 people. They used data from a simple blood test, which can be used by almost all people in the data set. People receive blood tests multiple times over a period of several months. 

Researchers studied two numbers obtained from blood tests in three different age groups: the ratio of two different types of disease-fighting white blood cells; and a measure of the variability of red blood cell size. Dr. Marc J said, it’s like a person’s hair turns white with age. Kahn is the dean of the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine and the vice president of health affairs at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. These two numbers increase with age. Scientists call them biomarkers of aging.

From these blood tests, they use computer models to determine what they call the Dynamic Organism State Index, or DOSI, for everyone, essentially a measure of “biological age” they can use and the time between blood tests. Quantify how a person recovers from stress, such as illness or injury. 

“The author can use this DOSI… to measure recovery time,” said Kahn, who is not involved in the current research. “The problem is that at a certain point of aging, the recovery time is too long, and we lose the ability to recover.” According to data trends, researchers found that at some point between 120 and 150 years of age, the resilience stops completely. No one can survive.

The researchers also analyzed physical activity data measured in steps per day to verify their results about human lifespan. They found the same pattern – young people tend to take more steps each day, while older people take fewer steps as they age. Extrapolating the data, the researchers found that the age limit is roughly the same as the age limit that they obtained through the DOSI measurement method. 

This study is not the first to use models to examine human life expectancy. Jan Vijg, a geneticist at the Albert Einstein School of Medicine, led a study that was analyzed in detail in the journal Nature in 2016. The study looked at trends in life expectancy data and it is estimated that humans cannot have more than 125 years. Other researchers believe that there is no definitive limit to the length of human life. 

Although studies have shown that humans can live to be 150 years old, this number does not indicate the quality of life of the elderly, Campisi said. In recent years, many scientists have started calling a person’s healthy life expectancy a healthy lifespan. 

 “This has great social significance, far exceeding the maximum life expectancy,” Campisi said. The health of old age will not only affect a person’s life, but it will also cause huge losses in terms of time, money, and medical resources. 

Researchers believe that if there is a way to improve the adaptability of the elderly, it will not only increase people’s life expectancy but also increase their healthy lifespan because the elderly can more easily recover from illness and injury. In order to improve resilience, Kahn may work hard to create mechanical organs or find ways to reprogram senescent cells. 

“Now, we are talking about the overall concept of human and mechanical structure that is unique to science fiction,” Kahn said. But studies have shown that “this kind of action is really needed to extend human life.” 

Of course, human life span is highly variable, Campisi said, there is always the question of whether such data can be generalized. Although the data sets used in the study are extensive, they come from only a few countries. The number obtained by the researchers is also an average value and applies to the entire population.

From income to diet, there are still countless factors that affect a person’s lifespan. He said that such research is inherently inaccurate. Campisi said, but in addition to the basic changes in human biology, it is also certain. 

“Of course, we will all die,” he said. The researchers came from Gero, a Singapore-based biotechnology company, the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo, New York, and the Kurchatov Institute in Moscow.