Health
Life expectancy in humans not likely to increase much more, study suggests
Human life expectancy has potentially been pushed to the max, new research suggests.
The recent increase in people’s longevity appears to be slowing down despite new developments in medicine, according to a study published in the journal Nature Aging.
During the 20th century, human life expectancy at birth rose by about 30 years in high-income nations, the study noted, driven by advancements in public health.
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Researchers from the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) analyzed the national vital statistics of the longest-living populations in Australia, France, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland, as well as Hong Kong and the United States, from 1990 to 2019.
The expectation that human life expectancy will surpass 100 years old is most likely untrue, the study revealed. (iStock)
Since 1990, the average life span has only risen 6-½ years in the countries in the study, which casts doubt on expectations that human life expectancy would exceed 100 years in people born today.
The researchers concluded that overall life expectancy improvements have slowed down, and that radical human life extension is “implausible in this century” unless the biological aging process can be “markedly slowed.”
‘Diminishing gains’
Study co-author S. Jay Olshansky, PhD, professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at UIC, shared his reaction in a conversation with Fox News Digital.
“The power of medicine to extend human life is extraordinary.”
“We’re demonstrating what actually happened in all of these populations in the last three decades,” he wrote in an email. “The decline in improvement was particularly pronounced in the United States.”
“As long as aging is unchanged, life extension through disease reduction must yield diminishing gains — that’s the overall conclusion in this paper.”
“The period of rapid increases in life expectancy is over,” the researchers concluded. (iStock)
The researcher also suggested that most people past age 60 are living on “manufactured time,” meaning they’re surviving on new medical technology.
“We should all be grateful that these life-extending technologies work, because without them, we would be living much shorter lives,” he said.
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Olshansky explained that humans were not made to live as long as they do now, as the natural life expectancy for humans is 30 to 60 years.
“This means the vast majority of the population that now lives past age 60 is living on survival time that was manufactured by medicine,” he said. “The power of medicine to extend human life is extraordinary.”
One of the study authors (not pictured) suggested that humans are surviving on time manufactured by modern medicine. (iStock)
Medical interventions for disease reduction could be considered “temporary” bandages, according to Olshansky.
“Living longer means we’re exposing ourselves to the currently immutable force of biological aging – which has already become the dominant risk factor for death in high-income countries,” he said.
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More than 30 years ago, researchers predicted that medicine would advance at “breakneck speed,” but that life expectancy wouldn’t follow, Olshansky noted.
“The prediction has come true and … the period of rapid increases in life expectancy is over,” he said.
Aging is tied to inflammation, one doctor noted, which can be treated with available medications. (iStock)
Dr. Marc Siegel, senior medical analyst for Fox News and clinical professor of medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center, who was not involved in the study, shared his opinion of the findings.
“I disagree with this because aging is tied to inflammation,” he told Fox News Digital.
“Current treatments (metformin, Lipitor, Ozempic, etc.) and diet strategies, as well as newer treatments in the works, may decrease oxidative stress, inflammation and insulin resistance, all of which contribute to cellular longevity,” the doctor added.
‘Control what we can control’
The time has come for people to focus on healthspan extension, not lifespan extension, according to Olshansky.
“This paper represents the strongest empirical evidence supporting the need to slow aging, because the [bandages] we’re now creating may produce an expansion of our carespan – especially if they make us live longer and deeper into the aging red zone, where frailty and disability dominate.”
“We now have the rationale for why healthspan extension should be our primary goal going forward,” a researcher (not pictured) told Fox News Digital. (iStock)
Olshansky advised the public to “control what we can control” and to avoid activities that shorten lifespan, such as unhealthy eating, smoking and substance abuse.
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The scientist also encouraged people to take advantage of access to medicine by visiting their doctor and taking prescribed medications.
“Take advantage of the social determinants of health — education and access to medical care — because these interventions work to increase the chances of living longer and healthier,” he said.
“And then focus on extending the most precious commodity on earth — healthy life.”
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More than 59% of women may have high blood pressure by 2050, according to a new report from the American Heart Association.
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A new report by the American Heart Association (AHA) included some troubling predictions for the future of women’s health.
The forecast, published in the journal Circulation on Wednesday, projected increases in various comorbidities in American females by 2050.
More than 59% of women were predicted to have high blood pressure, up from less than 49% currently.
The review also projected that more than 25% of women will have diabetes, compared to about 15% today, and more than 61% will have obesity, compared to 44% currently.
As a result of these risk factors, the prevalence of cardiovascular disease and stroke is expected to rise to 14.4% from 10.7%.
The prevalence of cardiovascular disease and stroke in women is expected to rise to 14.4% from 10.7% by 2050. (iStock)
Not all trends were negative, as unhealthy cholesterol prevalence is expected to drop to about 22% from more than 42% today, the report stated.
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Dr. Elizabeth Klodas, a cardiologist and founder of Step One Foods in Minnesota, commented on these “jarring findings.”
“The fact that on our current trajectory, cardiometabolic disease is projected to explode in women within one generation should be a huge wake-up call,” she told Fox News Digital.
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“Hypertension, diabetes, obesity — these are all major risk factors for heart disease, and we are already seeing what those risks are driving. Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women, eclipsing all other causes of death, including breast cancer.”
Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death for women in the U.S. and around the world. (iStock)
Klodas warned that heart disease starts early, progresses “stealthily,” and can present “out of the blue in devastating ways.”
The AHA published another study on Thursday revealing one million hospitalizations, showing that heart attack deaths are climbing among adults below the age of 55.
The more alarming finding, according to Klodas, is that young women were found more likely to die after their first heart attack than men of the same age.
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“This is all especially tragic since heart disease is almost entirely preventable,” she said. “The earlier you start, the better.”
Children can show early evidence of plaque deposition in their arteries, which can be reversed through lifestyle changes if “undertaken early enough and aggressively enough,” according to the expert.
Moving more is one part of protecting a healthy heart, according to experts. (iStock)
Klodas suggested that rising heart conditions are associated with traditional risk factors, like smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, obesity and a sedentary lifestyle.
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Doctors are also seeing higher rates of preeclampsia, or high blood pressure during pregnancy, as well as gestational diabetes. Klodas noted that these are sex-specific risk factors that don’t typically contribute to complications until after menopause.
The best way to protect a healthy heart is to “do the basics,” Klodas recommended, including the following lifestyle habits.
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Klodas especially emphasized making improvements to diet, as the food people eat affects “every single risk factor that the AHA’s report highlights.”
“High blood pressure, high blood sugar, high cholesterol, excess weight – these are all conditions that are driven in part or in whole by food,” she said. “We eat multiple times every single day, which means what we eat has profound cumulative effects over time.”
“Even a small improvement in dietary intake, when maintained, can have a massive positive impact on health,” a doctor said. (iStock)
“Even a small improvement in dietary intake, when maintained, can have a massive positive impact on health.”
The doctor also recommends changing out a few snacks per day for healthier choices, which has been proven to “yield medication-level cholesterol reductions” in a month.
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“Keep up that small change and, over the course of a year, you could also lose 20 pounds and reduce your sodium intake enough to avoid blood pressure-lowering medications,” Klodas added.
“Women should not view the AHA report as inevitable. We have power over our health destinies. We just need to use it.”
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