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TUESDAY, Nov. 6, 2018 (HealthDay News) – Your life partner has a much greater influence on your longevity than the genes you inherited from your family, according to a new analysis of family trees of more than 400 million people.
"While it is widely accepted that long-term heritability ranges from about 15 to 30%, the findings presented in this paper have shown that the heritability of human longevity is probably well below 10%, "said lead researcher Cathy Ball. She is scientific leader for Ancestry, the popular genealogy website.
Previous estimates were skewed because they did not take into account the strong influence that a spouse or life partner can have on their longevity, said Ball and his colleagues.
People tend to choose partners who share common traits, say the researchers. If your lifestyle helps prolong your life, you will probably choose a partner who shares that lifestyle.
Dr. Gisele Wolf-Klein is a geriatrician at Northwell Health in Great Neck, New York State. She said: "It is likely that you will try to partner with a person with the same interests in health habits.If a marathon with you rather than being a couch potato, there is is likely to keep you running more marathons. "
Wealth could be another non-genetic trait shared by partners, the researchers suggested. If income contributes to the length of life and wealthy people tend to marry other rich people, it could also prolong their longevity.
After correcting the effects of such a mating, the Ball team concluded that genetics does not contribute more than 7% to longevity and perhaps even less.
"The results of the research reveal the complex dynamics of longevity," said Ball. "While there is a genetic component, this study shows that there is a major impact of many other forces in your life."
For this study, researchers looked at 54 million public family trees generated by Ancestry.com subscribers, representing 6 billion ancestors.
From there, the team tweaked the records until it ended up with a set of human genealogies comprising more than 400 million people, each linked to another by birth or marriage.
Things became interesting when researchers started looking at people related solely to marriage. They discovered that the brothers-in-law and cousins had a similar lifespan, although they were not blood relatives and that they did not usually live under the same roof.
Further analysis has shown that important factors for life expectancy tend to be very similar between partners. The researchers noted that people choose people who share values that will shorten or extend their longevity.
The results were published on November 6 in the journal Genetic.
"I think it's a very optimistic and positive message for us," said Wolf-Klein, who did not participate in the research.
"This highlights something that is becoming increasingly obvious to us all: we have some control over who we are and what we become," she added. "Regardless of your genetics, if you follow good nutrition, exercise, and healthy habits, you can overcome some of the pitfalls of genetics."
More information
The US National Institutes of Health have more about longevity and genetics.
SOURCES: Catherine Ball, Ph.D., Scientific Lead, Ancestry; Gisele Wolf-Klein, M.D., Geriatrician, Northwell Health, Great Neck, N.Y .; November 6, 2018, Genetic
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