Long life may run in healthy families

A new study suggests that having parents who live a very long life may also be linked to better health in their children as they grow older.

Researchers studied people whose parents had lived to 100 years or more to find out whether longevity could be passed through families.

The study published in JAMA Network Open, analyzed data from three studies involving 4,030 people. Among them, 2,319 had at least one parent who lived to 100 or older.

Researchers monitored the participants for age related health problems including heart disease high blood pressure cancer and stroke.

The findings showed that people with extremely long lived parents had a 43% lower risk of dying in middle age a 33% lower risk of heart disease and a 32% lower risk of high blood pressure.

They also tended to develop age related diseases later in life. However having long lived parents did not appear to significantly reduce the risk of cancer while the risk of stroke was somewhat lower.

Researchers stressed that long lived parents do not guarantee that their children will also live to 100.  Family habits may also play an important role. Healthy eating regular physical activity and avoiding smoking are some habits that children often learn from their parents.