Have these men discovered the secret of youth?
Research reveals old-fashioned Amish community have a gene which can add 10 years to their lives
FOR more than 160 years the Amish of Berne, Indiana, have lived simple lives: indoor plumbing and electricity are taboo, modern technology is banned, travel is by horse-drawn buggy only and days are defined by farming, family and devotion to God. But this closed community has shocked medical experts after the discovery of a rare genetic mutation that could hold the key to a longer, healthier life.
Scientists studied 177 people from the Old Order Amish in Berne and identified 43 who have a mutated version of a gene called Serpine1. These carriers were found typically to live 10 years longer, suffer lower levels of diabetes and enjoy a stronger cardiovascular system.
Study lead author Dr Douglas Vaughan, chairman of medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, says: “This is a rare genetic mutation that seems to protect against biological ageing in humans. The findings astonished us because of the consistency of the anti-ageing benefits across multiple body systems.”
The mutation is a kind of genetic “fountain of youth”, explains Dr Vaughan. “Not only do they live longer, they live healthier. It’s a desirable form of longevity.”
Perhaps the most astonishing aspect to his findings is not so much that the mutation exists – but that this small, reclusive community seem to be the only people in the world to hold it.
“This is the only kindred on the planet with this mutation,” Dr Vaughan says. “It’s a ‘private mutation’.”
The discovery came about by accident. The Amish belief in living as their ancestors did normally extends to a rejection of modern medicine. Two years ago, however, they bent their own rules when a doctor was called in to deal with a girl’s serious bleeding disorder. It was found that she not only carried a genetic mutation that prevented her blood clotting but that she also held the Serpine1 mutation.
Dr Vaughan approached the community and after learning that several more also had “the bleeding problem”, he persuaded them to allow his team to carry out further tests. Ten medical stations were set up and over two days, 177 members of the Old Order underwent a variety of tests, where he discovered that 24 per cent of them held the antiageing genome.
IF THE findings are exciting for medical science, they have also shone a light into the isolated Amish of Berne.
The community was founded in 1850 by Protestant immigrants from the mountains of Switzerland who wished to establish an idealised society based around farming and religious devotion.
From those early settlers the community grew – there is now an estimated population of around 8,000 – but they have remained resolutely distant from the modern world. Dress is strictly regulated, technology banned and a strong emphasis is put on the simple joys of working the land, raising a family and praying to God.
Families of 10 are commonplace, rules are enforced by church leaders and contact with outsiders is kept to a minimum. To all intents and purposes they live exactly as their 19th-century Swiss ancestors did.
This may explain both how the existence of the genetic mutation remained undiscovered for so long, as well as why such a large proportion of the Amish population of Berne would seem to benefit from it.
The researchers believe it likely the mutation was brought over from Switzerland by the original settlers and was passed on through the community as it grew; their rejection of the modern world means they very rarely marry “outsiders”, and most members of the community are at least distantly related to each other.
Following the findings, trials have already begun in Japan to try to replicate the Serpine1 mutation with the aim of delaying the onset of age-related diseases and perhaps even help us all enjoy the benefits of longer, healthier lives. But Dr Vaughan insists that he is not quite done with the Amish yet either.
“We hope to be able to revisit them regularly and do additional testing to look at the velocity of ageing in this kindred and unearth more details about the protective effect of this mutation,” he says. Who knows what other secrets this most secretive of societies may have to reveal?