There are few certainties in life, but one thing is for sure — at some point it will come to an end.
Data from the Office for National Statistics puts the average life expectancy for men in the UK at 79.9 years and 83.0 for women, but scientists looking into the human lifespan reckon we could last for a lot longer than that.
In fact, according to new research from one group of experts, the ultimate limit of the human lifespan is an astonishing 190 years old.
Fancy living that long? It wouldn’t be without its downsides. Having to decide what to make for dinner every night for nearly two centuries could get tedious.
(Picture: Getty Images)
But it could be welcome news for those who fancy the idea of being around for as long as humanly possible.
So why 190? Well, the experts, from the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology in Russia, have discovered that as we get older, we’re subjected to a build-up of random mutations in our DNA.
At a basic biological level these range from the shortening of ‘caps’ on our DNA strands called telemores, through to our cells losing their ability to clear waste from our bodies.
However, what scientists looked at in closer detail was the one detail which is guaranteed to bring our lives to an end one way or another — tiny mistakes known as ‘somatic mutations’ which appear in our DNA whenever a cell divides.
Most of these are harmless but can occasionally give rise to changes which cause cancer.
However, the build-up of somatic mutations over time eventually begins to impair how cells function, leading to organ failure and eventually death.
So, while that ultimately puts a limit on how long a person could actually live — and rules out the possibility of eternal life — the researchers studied how long, theoretically, someone could carry on for if all barriers to ageing other than somatic mutations were removed, or became treatable.
Lead author Dr Dmitrii Krukov asked: ‘What would be the lifespan of a human who has overcome all ageing mechanisms except somatic mutations?’
To find out, the experts built a model of human ageing driven solely by these mutations.
‘Our model estimates how this process alone affects lifespan by slowly depleting cells across tissues,’ Dr Krukov explained.
‘If medicine could treat everything besides these somatic mutations, average lifespans range between 146 and 194 years old, depending on the exact model used.
‘It’s not a verdict of inevitability. But it does highlight that somatic mutations, while surprisingly weak as a standalone ageing driver, may become critical when combined with other mechanisms.’
That doesn’t mean that humans will start living for 190 years any time soon, as certain organs are more successful at beating ageing than others.
The research found, for example, that cells in the skin and the liver are continually replaced with new ones, so can keep going for longer, while those in the heart and the brain are largely irreplaceable, so will continue to gain mutations regardless.
All of which could be disappointing for those looking to crack the secret of immortality — among them billionaire biohacker Bryan Johnson.
The American entrepreneur, 48, has made headlines for his outlandish anti-ageing techniques, spending millions of dollars in a bid to extend his life and reduce his biological age to that of an 18-year-old.
Another research group, US-based Life Biosciences, have been given the first FDA approval for a human trial to investigate de-ageing.
Their research involves pioneering treatment on a person’s eye in a bid to reverse damage to the optic nerve caused by glaucoma and NAION, a condition in which blood flow to the nerve is reduced, leading to sudden, painless vision loss.
The study is seen as an opportunity to test whether such rejuvenation therapy can reverse the effects of disease.