Now that’s clever... Being bright helps you to live longer

INTELLIGENCE may be the key to wealth and success.

But there could be an even greater advantage for those blessed with a high IQ.

A study has shown that the genes linked to cleverness may also help to prolong life.

Researchers led by the University of Edinburgh discovered more than 500 genes that make some people quick thinkers.

They say variations in these genes can also help people live longer. It may be that they slow down the ageing process – meaning it is not just intelligent people’s decisions, such as choosing not to smoke or drink, that help them make it to old age.

Lead researcher Dr David Hill said: ‘This study is the largest study aimed at finding genetic variants involved in intelligence differences. We identified 187 regions of the genome and over 500 genes linked to differences in intelligence.

‘We also found that the same genetic variants linked to higher intelligence are also linked to living longer.’

Previous suggestions that the same genes control longevity and intelligence were based on databases that showed clever people lived longer and studies of twins who share genes.

The latest research is the first to look at DNA to find genetic variations for intelligence and long life. Comparing the DNA of more than 240,000 people, researchers found 538 genes associated with intellectual ability.

History shows us countless examples of great thinkers who live to a grand old age.

Michelangelo died aged 88, more than 50 years after completing the roof of the Sistine Chapel, while Sir Isaac Newton made it to 84, around 60 years after an apple falling from a tree led him to first suspect the existence of gravity.

Charles Darwin, who devised the theory of evolution, died when he was 73, while Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, made it to 83.

The latest link between old age and brainpower was made using Biobank, a major genetic study into the roles of nature and nurture in health.

Participants were given intelligence tests and the results were compared with their genetics. Experts say 50% to 80% of the difference between individuals’ intelligence is determined by their genes. This is the first study to show the same variations may influence the age at which we die.

The study, published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, aimed to identify genetic variants linked to intelligence – but it also found these were linked to lower rates of tiredness and diabetes in clever people.

Genes involved with problem-solving were found to play a role in nerve signals passing from one part of the brain to another.