Long Life: Myth or Reality?
Recent findings provide strong evidence that the average human life span might be significantly extended, professor Chaim Cohen from Bar Ilan University in Israel told DPA.
"It is possible that people will overcome the age limit of 120 and even be able to live up to 140 years," the researcher said.
So far, the oldest person worldwide was French national Jeanne Calment who died at the age of 122 in 1997. Since then, no one has managed to break her record, but Cohen is confident that the situation might change.
"If one learns to manipulate the aging process, it would be possible to increase one's maximum life expectancy," the scientist believes.
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His research is based on the analysis of data on human mortality from 1900 to 2010, as well as on experiments carried out on animal species such as mice, rats and flies.
At the same time, he noted that the goal is not only to allow us to live longer, but also to make us healthier.
"The older people are, the more diseases they get," he said.
Compared to the 19th century, there are now significantly more cases of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's because so many people are older than 80, the expert stated.
Divided Opinions
Cohen's research was backed up by James Vaupel, the director of the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research in Rostock, Germany.
According to the expert, the Israeli analyst's study is based on "careful, thorough research."
"I agree with Cohen's conclusions," Vaupel said, cited by the Welt newspaper.
At the same time, the research team led by Jan Vijg from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York came to an opposing conclusion last year.
In particular, they argued that a human life span has a natural upper limit. Thus, the likelihood that a person would ever be older than 125 years is extremely low, their study published in the Nature journal said.
