Rather than “a mere consequence of aging,” these changes in the gut microbiome could potentially protect centenarians against infections and other environmental stressors, helping them maintain their health with age, the authors said.
By comparing the gut microbiomes of 160 centenarians with those of the elderly and young, the team found that centenarians had a particular signature to the strains of bacteria in their microbiome.
It was also stable in samples collected over one to two years, even though the authors didn’t control the centenarians’ diets, suggesting it’s not a buggy fluke.
An estimated 325,000 of these nonagenarians and centenarians are still with us, with stories to tell.
One study, for example, found that centenarians lived much longer than people born around the same time in the same environment.
Centenarian Alice Lee is the oldest lawyer still practicing in Alabama.
She crammed enough experience into a career of forty-two years to have surfeited a centenarian.
A centenarian in the Shetlands, says a news agency, has never heard of Mr. Lloyd George.
The oldest man among them, a centenarian, was employed in plaiting straw for hats.
The centenarian is sitting dreaming over the past when he hears a wagon rumbling to the front door.
This learned centenarian became a member of the Antiquarian Society in 1839, and his death was noticed at the last meeting.