(Nancy Schimelpfening/ Healthline) — While human longevity appears to have an upper limit (the oldest age reliably recorded is the 122-year lifespan of a woman from France named Jeanne Calment) there are several things that can affect how likely we are to reach a ripe, old age.
Scientists say that a combination of genes, environment, resiliency, and just plain luck can factor into the equation. And, it now appears that weight changes in later life might also play a role.
A new study published online in the Journal of Gerontology reports that women over the age of 60 who maintained a stable weight were more likely to experience what the authors referred to as exceptional longevity.
Exceptional longevity, according to the authors, was defined as living to the age of 90 or older.
For the purposes of the study, weight stability was considered to be having less than a 5% variation from baseline weight. (…)