£400 Blood Test Can Tell People How Long They’ll Live

Lisa Franchi November 22, 2012

You don’t have to ask a fortune teller to know when you are going to die, or at least how many years you still have to enjoy your life. With a simple blood test, you can already measure your biological age and estimate how long you would have to live, a ground breaking study suggests. This controversial test is about to go on sale in Britain later this year, with a staggering cost of £435 per person.

More accurate test for individual’s lifespan

Until today, a person’s life expectancy is only measured through his or her chronological age which is affected by certain variables including health, behaviour and intelligence. But according to experts, it is the biological age that accurately measures how long an organism will live.

The study, which was published in the journal Molecular Ecology, provided a clear connection between the telomere length and mortality in wild birds. Scientists believe that the telomeres (vital structures on the tip of the chromosomes), are crucial indicators of how fast a person is ageing. For their study, the researchers measured the average telomere length found in the chromosomes of the Seychelles warbler (a group of wild songbirds) on the Cousin Island.

They found that the size of the telomeres gets smaller as the cells divide during the lifetime of the organism. It also leads to damage in the DNA and chromosomes. According to Dr David Richardson, one of the researchers from the University of East Anglia, their findings show that the rapid shortening of telomeres indicates that the birds will die within a year. They also found that in humans, longer telomeres had longer lifespan as well. However, the rate at which the telomeres shorten varies between individuals of the same age. Dr Richardson explains that it is because humans have different amounts of biological stress. But by looking at the telomeres of each person, it is possible to measure the amount of damage an individual has accumulated over their lifetime.

Telomere testing set to launch in UK

There is one company that will be offering the test to British people for £435 each. Experts believe that the telomere testing is going to be popular in the next 5 to 10 years. However, some are already posing doubts on the new invention, suggesting stronger ethical controls to measure its efficacy. Others are concerned about how the public will react to the test that will tell them how “old” they are. Scientists also worry that this technology might be used by unscrupulous organisations on selling ineffective anti-ageing remedies. Maria Blasco of the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre in Madrid, who invented the commercial telomere test, said that they do not know whether telomeres are going to give people a longer lifespan. However, she argues that the test is very precise, and it involved a very simple and fast technique.

Scientists do not believe that they can provide the exact number of years and months a person will live. However, they are sure that the shorter the telomeres are, the shorter the individual’s lifespan is. According to Dr Blasco, it can be useful for people to know their biological age so they can change their lifestyle habits sooner if they have short telomeres. The question now is – will they be willing to spend for a very expensive test?

Dear Reader,

Would you condone such a treatment for the public? Given the price, would you pay up to find out your life-span?

Share your comments below!

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A blood test to reveal how long you have to live