Decoding the secret behind the limit of human lifespan

Now researchers in Singapore, Russia, and the US have taken a different approach to estimate the maximum human lifespan.

Brighton: While most of us can expect to live to around 80, some people defy expectations and live to be over 100. In places such as Okinawa, Japan and Sardinia, Italy, there are many centenarians. The oldest person in history – a French woman named Jeanne Calment – lived to 122. When she was born in 1875, the average life expectancy was roughly 43.

But just how long could a human actually live? It’s a question people have been asking for centuries. Previous studies have placed this limit close to 140 years of age. But a more recent study proposes that the limit to human lifespan is closer to 150.

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The oldest and still most widely used method for calculating lifespan, relies on the Gompertz equation, first made in the 19th century, that human death rates from disease increase exponentially with time.

Now researchers in Singapore, Russia, and the US have taken a different approach to estimate the maximum human lifespan. Using a computer model, they estimate that the limit of human lifespan is about 150 years.

To conduct the modelling study, the researchers took blood samples from over 70,000 participants aged up to 85 and looked at short-term changes in their blood cell counts. The researchers then simplified this data into a single parameter, which they called the dynamic organisms state indicator (Dosi).

Changes in Dosi values across the participants predicted that for everyone – regardless of their health or genetics – resilience failed completely at 150, giving a theoretical limit to human lifespan.