One longevitygene, present in 24% of these centenarians (including Tauber), compared with 8% among younger people, may help stave off cardiovascular disease by making the body more efficient at removing cholesterol.
And given that there is no evidence that, for example, the proportion of Japanese carrying the mitochondrial longevitygene has increased recently, changing circumstances are a more likely explanation for the dramatic increase in the numbers of the oldest old in the past 50 years.
He says a longevity-gene drug, shielding patients simultaneously from mental deterioration, heart disease and stroke, could be ready in less than a decade.