Centenarian key to unlocking longevity
Blood of world’s oldest woman reveal stem cells and attitude may be crucial for a long life
Hendrikje (Henny) van Andel-Schipper, formerly the oldest woman in the world, once said there were three keys to living a long life: eating a serving of herring every day, drinking orange juice and breathing.
At another point, the former needlework instructor advised: “Don’t smoke and don’t drink too much alcohol. Just a small advocaat with cream on Sundays and holidays. And you must remain active.”
Hoping to find something a little more precise, scientists conducted a lengthy series of tests on Andel-Schipper’s blood and tissues after she died in her sleep at the age of 115 in 2005.
The newly-released study suggests the key to her longevity may lie in her stem cells, which fight off infection.
Andel-Schipper may have lived so long because she had a superior system for repairing or getting rid of cells with dangerous mutations.
The doctor who headed the study, Henne Holstege of VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam, said in an email interview that much research remains to be done on whether these findings can be used in a practical way to extend human life.
“The important thing is that extension of life requires survival until very extreme ages in the first place,” Holstege said. “In other words, a person should not succumb to any other diseases. This, I think will be the greater challenge!”
Personality may also have something to do with longevity.
In the email interview, Holstege also said people who live past 100 tend to have a common character trait: forgiveness.
“They say that when something bad happens, they focus on something positive, so that they don’t allow negative things that occur to have an impact on them,” Holstege said. “To what extent such an attitude extends life remains to be seen, but it is something that I find unites these persons.”
Andel-Schipper died of gastric cancer, which isn’t typically an older-person’s sickness.
Her autopsy showed no traces of dementia, which some scientists had considered an inevitable part of aging.
At first glance, Andel-Schipper seemed an unlikely candidate for a life that spanned three centuries.
“Don’t smoke and don’t drink too much alcohol. . . . And you must remain active.” HENDRIKJE (HENNY) VAN ANDEL-SCHIPPER WORLD’S OLDEST WOMAN
There were fears she wouldn’t live past infancy after she was born prematurely and underweight in1890 in the Dutch village of Drenthe. Home-schooled because she was too sickly to attend regular classes, she lived with her parents until she was 47 and married a tax inspector at 49. She never learned how to drive and a bicycle was her preferred mode of transportation throughout her mobile years. She carried a smile and sharp memory into her final years, although her vision failed her. She underwent a mastectomy at the age of 100 and didn’t move into a retirement home until she was 106. For her 114th birthday party, she was visited by a delegation from the Ajax Football club. She had been a fan of the club for eight decades and joked that others in her nursing home were “hicks who don’t understand football.” In the final days of her life, she said, “It’s been nice, but the man upstairs says it’s time to go.”