Human Lifespan Biologically Limited to Around 200 Years, Study Suggests

Even if medicine eradicates cancer, heart disease, and dementia, the human body has a biological expiration date. Scientists suggest our lifespan may be capped at around 200 years, even with advanced anti-aging treatments.

Russian researchers explored a strict limit on human longevity, focusing on somatic mutations – errors in our DNA that occur each time a cell divides. While the body repairs this damage efficiently, the system isn't perfect. These mutations accumulate over time, eventually impairing cell function and leading to the body's failure. This fundamental aging factor is difficult to eliminate.

Simulations indicate this mutation buildup imposes a hard limit on lifespan, estimated between 146 and 194 years, with an average around 150-160 years. While this nearly doubles current life expectancy, it confirms biological immortality remains impossible. The study, published in NPJ Ageing, used a mathematical model to simulate organ deterioration from accumulating somatic mutations. Researchers modeled an ideal scenario where other aging factors like chronic inflammation and senescent cells were reversed.

The study also revealed that organs age differently. The skin and liver constantly replace old cells, theoretically maintaining function indefinitely. However, brain and heart cells do not renew. They accumulate mutations throughout life, becoming the body's weak points that determine the ultimate survival limit.

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We developed an incremental modeling framework that progressively integrates aging factors into a population survival dynamics model. We used it to estimate lifespan limits if all aging features were eliminated except for somatic mutations.