The secret to life as a super-ager

There are older adults, and then there are super-agers.

Technically speaking, the former phrase refers to anyone over the age of 65, according to the National Institute on Aging. A super-ager is someone over the age of 80 with cognitive abilities comparable to someone in their 50s.

Research into super-agers has been ongoing for the better part of the last two decades. Dr. Emily Rogalski, the Rosalind Franklin Professor of Neurology at the University of Chicago, is one of the leading experts in the field, and has several ongoing studies on the subject.

(Dr. Rogalski spoke about super-agers at the National Academy of Neuropsychology conference in 2023, and BrainWise published a Q&A with her at the end of last year.)

In recent months, other research projects have garnered international attention, as well.

One, a collaboration between researchers at the University of Rome La Sapienza and the Sanford Stem Cell Institute at the University of California San Diego, has been looking into why centenarians in one specific region of southern Italy are living so long.

The Cilento region, on the Mediterranean Sea, is home to a preponderance of individuals over the age of 90, including several people over the age of 100. The project, titled Cilento Initiative on Aging Outcomes (CIAO), has studied 29 residents over the age of 90 and aims to uncover what it is about life in this part of the world that contributes to such longevity.

Several articles (like this one) already have been published about data obtained through the project.

Dr. David Brenner, CEO of Sanford Burnham Prebys, a nonprofit medical research institute in San Diego, is one of the researchers behind CIAO. In a recent op-ed for the San Diego Union-Tribune, he noted that many experts have bandied about different theories that could spark longevity, but that it is likely a combination of factors that determines how long a person lives and how that person’s cognition fares over time.

“Sometimes we cite ‘good genes’ as a cause for longevity; family history is a factor, to be sure, but, unlike heart disease or diabetes, research has failed to demonstrate modifications in specific genes that are associated with healthy aging,” he wrote. “Most variation in how long we live (and how well) depends upon behaviors: a healthy diet, regular physical activity and sleep, robust social interactions that invigorate the mind and stress reducing activities.”

Early returns on CIAO research have confirmed the importance of diet and exercise. Centenarians in the Cilento region consume a robust version of the Mediterranean diet and

enjoy vigorous lives, walking, gardening and enjoying sex well into their golden years.

Furthermore, as Dr. Brenner noted in his essay: “Bone fractures and cataracts are rare. Heart health is excellent. Cases of dementia are few.”

This research provides perspective on one piece of the puzzle; Dr. Rogalski’s work comes at the same issue from a different angle. Over the years, Dr. Rogalski has identified four common characteristics of all super-agers:

• Super-agers have an active lifestyle.
• Super-agers continue to challenge themselves.
• Super-agers are social butterflies.
• Super-agers indulge in the finer things of life.

During that November 2023 interview with BrainWise, Dr. Rogalski said her research considers these and a host of other factors, including genetics.

“We’re going to look at genetic factors, and what’s the interplay between cognition, genetics, neuropathology, and brain structure,” said Dr. Rogalski, whose lab is in the University of Chicago’s Healthy Aging & Alzheimer’s Research Care Center. “I liken this to when we first got digital cameras and we were all excited, we didn’t need film anymore, and we could take a bunch of pictures and that seemed great, and they looked great on the back of our cameras. And then we printed them out in our home printers, and everybody’s faces [looked] like little squares. [They were] pixelated. That’s about the resolution we can see during life. This is where someone donating their brain at the time of death gives us better resolution so that we can really look at contributors of cellular and molecular factors.”

Dr. Rogalski was careful to note that research into centenarians and healthy aging should draw upon a wide selection of data—not exclusively data about super-agers.

Specifically, she recommended pulling together data on lifespan, information from aging studies, conclusions from studies that have focused on aging and dementia, and other research as it pertains to cell life.

(It’s also worth noting that other research has focused on sex differences in super-agers; some suggests females are more likely than men to fall into this category.)

Looking forward, Dr. Rogalski said she will continue to incorporate this varied data. She also will continue to work with a broad pool of super-agers themselves; one of her goals for 2024 and beyond is to continue to diversify the group of 300 or so super-agers whom she is studying as part of this research.

In Chicago, the Cilento region of Italy, and everywhere in between, researchers will continue to try to understand how and why some people live so long and so well.

In the meantime, the message for the rest of us is clear: Get out there and live!

This article has been factchecked. For more about that process, click here.