Scientists have determined the limit of the lifespan of human beings. Researchers believe that humans cannot live more than 125 years, according to a new study.
In this new study, researchers collected and analyzed statistics from the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Japan. These are the nations in the world with the highest number of supercentenarians or those who are already aged 110 years old or more.
The researchers found that the average death rate of the supercentenarian population have not changed since 1968 and there is a one in 10,000 chances of finding a person who is older than 125 years.
Based on the results, the researchers from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York suggest that the human lifespan naturally has a limit.
The biological causes of this "natural limit" is apparently a by-product of fixed genetic programming stemming from earlier life events such as growth, development, and reproduction, according to researchers.
The researchers noted that the oldest documented human individual who ever lived since record keeping began was a French woman who died at the age of 122 in 1997.
However, there is a controversial claim that an Indonesian man named Mbah Gotho is now 145 years old. There are reportedly documents proving he was born in 1870.
Scientists say that some people only get to live for so long due to "inherent imperfections when they transfer genetic information into cellular function."
To prolong life for more than 125 years, scientists will need to develop new ways to improve human health.
Although researchers say that this is a possibility, this may be hindered by multiple genetic variants that determine a particular species lifespan.
This new study has been published in the journal Nature.