Our recent work found that the frailer an individual, the lower the diversity of gut bacteria they have. So we asked if changes in our gut bacteria could be part of the process of inflammation driving frailty. Recent evidence indicates that our immune and inflammatory systems are trained and educated in our gut, through key interactions with gut bacteria. New research published in Genome Medicine by Matt Jackson, from our group at King’s College London, investigated this question in an unlikely place – poo. Time itself should not be the focus – at least, in part, because time is one thing we are unlikely to be able to stop. Many previous attempts have approached this question by looking for differences between young and old people, but this approach is often biased by the many social and cultural developments that happen between generations, including diet changes. The “very old” do spark our interest – but is our search for a secret to longevity actually misguided? Wouldn’t you rather live healthier than live longer in poor health? Surely, what we really want to know is how do we live well in old age.Ĭlearly as scientists we try to illuminate these questions using populations of people not just odd individuals. But speculation on the basis of one individual is not necessarily the most helpful way of addressing this human quest for the Philosopher’s Stone.

Commentators as usual, focused on his reported “secret to longevity”: not smoking, drinking or overdoing it.

The world’s oldest man, Yasutaro Koide recently died at the age of 112.

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