11-29-11 By Elisha Anderson, Detroit Free Press (MCT)
http://www.lef.org/news/LefDailyNews.htm?NewsID=11953&Section=Aging
Nov. 27--Wilma Lakin always included a meat, a vegetable and a starch -- like potatoes or macaroni -- in the dinners she prepared.
Elizabeth Clark Bouch reads the New York Times daily and enjoys a martini before dinner.
Alfred Eadle Belfer watches Westerns -- John Wayne is a big favorite -- and voraciously reads books about cowboys.
All three -- who live at Halsted Place, a retirement community in Farmington Hills -- are part of a rare group: They've reached the age of 100.
"They're the rock stars of aging," said Lynn Peters Adler, founder of the National Centenarian Awareness Project based in Phoenix, which celebrates active centenarians.
The number of centenarians has grown in Michigan and is expected to keep growing. The 2010 U.S. census tallied 1,729 people 100 or older in Michigan, up 194 centenarians from 10 years earlier. Nationwide, centenarians number about 50,000.
Researchers across the country are studying centenarians to find out why they live longer. The answers may provide breakthroughs to address health issues such as Alzheimer's, heart attacks and strokes.
They're finding those who live to see triple digits come from a wide range of religions, ethnicities, education levels and income levels. But they're also seeing common traits, such as an ability to handle stress better than most others.
"My motto is this: I don't let nothing worry me. I let it roll off my back," said Belfer, 100.
Luck of the genes lets some people live far beyond 100, researchers say
When Jeralean Talley was born in 1899, her family used an ice box instead of a refrigerator, the Model T had yet to roll off the assembly line, and the crossword puzzle hadn't been invented.
The 112-year-old Inkster woman has hit a milestone experts say only one out of about 5 million people reach. She's a supercentenarian -- someone who has lived at least 110 years -- and is one of Michigan's oldest living residents. Talley still cooks, goes fishing at least once a year, and even mowed her lawn up until a few years ago.
"I bowled until I was 104," she said during an interview in her living room last week.
When asked why she thinks she has lived so long, Talley pointed to the sky.
"He's the only one who knows how long I'm going to be here," she said. "I'm here today, and I can be gone today."
Michael Kinloch, her friend of almost 20 years, said the first time he remembers Talley having a hospital stay was at the age of 99.
Even now, Talley said she has pains but doesn't feel sick.
Her daughter lives with her, and Talley, who has lost much of her hearing, gets around with the help of a cane.
But she still has no problem recounting what it was like to grow up on a farm in Georgia, picking cotton and breaking corn.
"I'm really impressed with her ability to recall all of the things that have happened within her life, given her current age," Kinloch said. "I'm truly amazed by her health and her ability to get around as well as she does."
'Lucky roll of the dice'
Those who study supercentenarians say they believe a big part of longevity comes from a person's genes.
The average person's life expectancy is 78.2 years, according to preliminary 2009 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Vital Statistics Report.
Dr. L. Stephen Coles, director of the Gerontology Research Group, studies the oldest people in the world and said genes are the most important factor in explaining why some people reach more than 110 years.
"Supercentenarians -- they all have a lucky roll of the dice," Coles said. "They have good genes. They picked their parents wisely."
The Gerontology Research Group keeps a list of the world's oldest people -- 110 or above -- and said women have the advantage in longevity. Of the 79 living people currently on the list, 74 are women.
Coles said more research is needed to know why women reach the milestone more often, but one theory centers on the chromosomal makeup of women, who have two X chromosomes.
Coles, along with others across the country doing similar research, hopes medicine can be developed to increase the life expectancies of those who don't escape normal aging diseases such as heart disease, cancer, strokes and Alzheimer's.
This month, the X PRIZE Foundation and Medco Health Solutions, based in Franklin Lakes, N.J., announced a $10-million award to encourage scientists to compete in a contest that could ultimately identify the genes that protect against disease.
The research could shed light on what causes diseases and what prevents them, said Felix Frueh, president of the Medco Research Institute.
People who are at least 100 years old are currently being recruited to participate in the research, and the X PRIZE competition is set to begin in 2013.
Nonsmokers, not obese
In addition to genes, researchers point to a number of common characteristics in people who have hit 100 years or older.
Dr. Tom Perls is an associate professor of medicine at Boston University and the director of the New England Centenarian Study. About 1,800 people ranging in age from 100 to 119 have participated in the study.
Researchers found many of those centenarians don't have a substantial history of smoking, have relatives who reached old age, handle stress better than the average person and aren't obese. Many of the women in that group gave birth after the age of 35.
The group varies greatly in religion, ethnicity, education, income and diet.
A trio of centenarians -- Wilma Lakin, 100, Elizabeth Clark Bouch, 101, and Alfred Eadle Belfer, 100 -- live in the same senior housing complex in Farmington Hills. But they led much different lives before arriving there.
None of them smokes, although Belfer used to. He gave it up Jan. 16, 1976 -- the day he bought a new Buick. Finances helped him make the decision, he said, but he has no regrets about giving it up."I'm glad I did, the way cigarettes cost now," he said.
Don't look back
Centenarians' keen ability to handle stress came up repeatedly in interviews.
Lakin, who grew up in Detroit and was active in church throughout her life, said she doesn't dwell. She goes into the facility's activity room to occupy her time and to take her mind off any problems.
"I don't usually look back," she said. All three outlived their spouses, Belfer doing so three times.
Bouch has outlived one of her children. Lakin has lived longer than two of her four children and said losing them was the most painful part of her life.
Bouch retired from the U.S. Foreign Service and has lived around the world -- including in Ireland, Italy and Germany. Her memory has started to fade, and she said she's ready to die.
"I hope I'll go soon," she said. "What's the point of hanging around?"
Belfer, who emigrated to the U.S. from Russia when he was a boy, said he hopes to make it through the year.
Lakin isn't making any predictions on when her time will come.
"I could die tomorrow probably and not even care," she said, laughing. "I can't really think beyond today."
Outliving their savings
As medical care has improved over the years, the number of centenarians has increased and is expected to continue growing as baby boomers age.
In 1995, one out of 10,000 people reached the age of 100. Now that number is about one out of 5,000, Perls said.
In southeast Michigan, the number of centenarians will increase an average of 50% every five years from 2010 to 2030, according to data analyzed by the Area Agency on Aging 1B.
There's a correlation between age and lower income, said Jim McGuire, director of research for the agency, which funds programs like Meals on Wheels and in-home services that help elderly people in a six-county region in southeast Michigan.
People may financially plan to live to 70 or 80, but not many people plan to live to be 100, he said.
Already, the Area Agency on Aging has waiting lists for some services, and McGuire said the biggest growth in demand for services is coming from people 85 and older.
Lynn Peters Adler, founder of the National Centenarian Awareness Project, looks at centenarians as the role models for the future of aging. She focuses on quality-of-life issues among those 100-plus.
"It's not just how long we live, but how well we live that matters," she said.
She said this generation of centenarians is healthier and more active than past generations, but dementia is still a severe problem among the age group.
It's not easy growing older -- a lot of things go wrong, particularly medically, she said.
"Centenarians are not quitters," Adler said.
They have the ability to accept the losses and changes that come with aging -- including giving up driving and coping with the deaths of close friends, spouses and even children -- and not let the challenges stop them.
"Centenarians are just extraordinary people," she said.