When she celebrated her birthday last year, she told The Rye Record, “I’m glad I can still speak and have my sense of humor, but I would caution you not to try and live to be 112!”She had been the oldest known living person in New York State, according to LongeviQuest, which maintains a database of supercentenarians, people who have lived into a 12th decade.
Mrs. Levy was one of more than 700 people, all 95 or older, recruited since 1998 to participate in a study by the Institute for Aging Research at the Albert Einstein School of Medicine in the Bronx to learn the genetic reasons for their unusually long, healthy lives.
“It’s not luck,” Dr. Nir Barzilai, an endocrinologist who directs the institute, said by phone.
“They exceeded luck.
The biggest answer is genetics.”Using the blood and plasma of the test group, all Ashkenazi Jews — a comparatively homogeneous population whose genetic variations are easier to spot — the institute’s Longevity Genes Project has discovered gene mutations that are believed to be responsible for slowing the impact of aging on people like Mrs. Levy and protecting them against high cholesterol, heart disease, diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease.
Persons:
“ I’m, Levy, “ It’s, ” Dr, Nir Barzilai
Organizations:
Rye, Institute for Aging Research, Albert Einstein School of Medicine
Locations:
New York State, Bronx