Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 105, 13987–13992 (2008)

Variations in a gene that mediates responses to insulin are associated with longevity in humans, researchers have found.

Bradley Willcox of the Pacific Health Research Institute in Honolulu, Hawaii, and his colleagues looked for links between longevity and variations in five genes involved in insulin signalling and which had previously been suggested to have a link with ageing. The researchers used samples from more than 600 Japanese-American men: 213 who had lived to at least 95 years of age, and 402 who had died before the age of 81.

Variation within one of the genes, FOXO3A, was associated with longevity. Those with two copies of a particular version of the gene reported fewer health problems and were nearly three times more likely than those with just one copy to live to the age of 98.