Humans may be able to live for between 120 and 150 years, but no longer than this “absolute limit” on human life span, a new study suggests.
For the study, published online May 25 in the journal Nature Communications, the researchers used mathematical modeling to predict that after 120 to 150 years of age, the human body would totally lose its ability to recover from stresses like illness and injury, resulting in death. If therapies were to be developed to extend the body’s resilience, the researchers argue, these may enable humans to live longer, healthier lives.
Studies like this one “rely on historic and present data from populations of people,” Judith Campisi, a professor at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging in Novato, California, told Live Science. “It’s guessing, but based on good numbers,” added Campisi, who is also a senior scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. (Campisi was not involved in the new study.)