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 intellibased gent people’s decisions, such as choosing not to smoke or on databases that drink, that help them make showed clever people lived it to old age. longer and studies of twins

Lead researcher Dr David who share genes. Hill, of the University of The latest study is the first Edinburgh, said: ‘This study to look at DNA to find is the largest study aimed at genetic variations for intelligence finding genetic variants and long life. Comparing involved in intelligence differences. the DNA of more than We identified 187 240,000 people, researchers regions of the genome and found 538 genes associated over 500 genes linked to differences with intellectual ability. in intelligence. History shows us countless

‘We also found that the examples of great thinkers same genetic variants linked who live to a grand old age. to higher intelligence are Michelangelo died aged 88, also linked to living longer.’ more than 50 years after Previous suggestions that completing the roof of the the same genes control longevity Sistine Chapel, while Sir and intelligence were 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 the UK 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 per cent 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 problemsolving were found to play a role in nerve signals passing from one part of the brain to another.