Saturday, December 8, 2012

Irving Kahn: A "Super Ager"

(from May 2012)
106-year-old Irving Kahn still goes to work every day, keeping tabs on the financial firm he built with his family. His sister named Happy, lived to be 109. His baby brother Peter is a 105. The Kahns are part of a group of Ashkenazi Jews, those from Eastern Europe, who live unusually long, healthy lives.

Healthy lifestyle is not the key to the exceptional longevity seen among super agers. Sixty percent of the men, including Irving Kahn, smoked at some point. Less than half exercise on a regular basis and they don't eat particularly healthy diets. Irving Kahn said his favorite food is "a rare hamburger...and a good cheese."
Barzilai and his team discovered that people who live to be 100 are more than twice as likely to have a certain variant of a gene called CETP. It helps control cholesterol and protects against heart disease and dementia. Irving Kahn has that gene variant.

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