lifestyle

A new study challenges the popular belief that longevity can be inherited through the genes.

According to researchers, it is actually one's habits and a healthier lifestyle that is able to increase life expectancy.

Lead author of the study, professor emeritus Lars Wilhelmsen from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden stated, "Our study shows that hereditary factors don't play a major role and that lifestyle has the biggest impact."

The 1913 Men study

Researchers, who specifically looked at the effects of paternal diet in their study, have discovered that a father's lifestyle can be passed down to next generation because it "reprogrammes" his genes.

The novel mice study, carried out by researchers at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and the University of Texas at Austin, shows that paternal diet influences lipid metabolising genes of his children.

Report reveal that nearly ten percent people in the country are obese while five percent of the total population is being treated for diabetes.

Surveyors also noted that there’s a strong link between type 2 diabetes and obesity and approximately 90 percent (2.5 million) of people suffering from diabetes in UK are suffering from the type 2 condition.

While commenting on study findings, Diabetes UK's director of care, information and advocacy, Simon O'Neill called the findings of the report “shocking” and “serious.”