Studies indicate that people with this blood type have higher chance of living to 100

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In a stunning breakthrough, researchers have identified 10 specific blood “markers” that separate centenarians from those who die earlier, allowing them to predict who’s more likely to reach 100 years.

Once considered medical marvels, centenarians are no longer as rare as they once were. In fact, the venerable population – people 100+ years – now represents the fastest-growing age group globally, with their numbers roughly doubling every decade since the 1970s.

This remarkable trend not only reflects advances in healthcare and quality of life – it’s also driving scientists to explore what’s happening inside the bodies of those who live the longest, especially at the microscopic level of blood and biology.

And a groundbreaking long-term study from Sweden may have the answers.

Tracked longevity for decades

Researchers analyzed 44,637 people from Stockholm County using data from a massive population-based resource of clinical lab results. These participants, all born between 1893 and 1920 (ages 64 to 99), had routine blood tests performed between 1985 and 1996. Then came the long wait: participants were tracked for up to 35 years, using national registers that recorded disease, death, and residency status.

Of these people, 1,224 reached the age of 100, with 84.6% being women – consistent with known gender differences in longevity.

But the researchers weren’t just interested in outcomes. They wanted to know if blood markers, taken decades earlier, reveal who would eventually live the longest.

Turns out, yes – at least to some degree.

Extreme values

The scientists looked at 12 routine blood markers. These included:

  • Glucose and total cholesterol for metabolic health
  • Creatinine for kidney function
  • Liver enzymes such as gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), and lactate dehydrogenase (LD)
  • Iron markers and uric acid, often associated with inflammation
  • Albumin, which signals nutritional status

Their conclusions were precise: extreme values – either too high or too low – reduced the odds of reaching 100.

Key findings

“We found that, on the whole, those who made it to their hundredth birthday tended to have lower levels of glucose, creatinine and uric acid from their 60s onwards,” researcher Karin Modig writes in a Live Science article. “For example, very few of the centenarians had a glucose level above 6.5 earlier in life, or a creatinine level above 125.”Continue reading…

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