Long life is enjoyed by many elderly people. They either thank their stars happily or curse the people who wished for their long life and good health in past. But scientist now have a viable answer for why few elderly people outlive their contemporaries. They have found that activeness of a hormone called Insulin Growth Factor IGF -1 is responsible for this condition. Hormones are naturally found chemical substances which help various organs in our body to function properly. This article tries to gain further insight on this topic.

Knowledge Gained from Research:

• Generally this hormone is produced by the organ liver.
• It plays a vital role in growth during our childhood primarily.
• It’s activeness in later years of life too causes longevity in humans.
• The research study considered 376 participants belonging to the age group of 73 to 94 years.
• When blood gets clotted, a liquid can be extracted from it called the serum.
• It is very useful for conducting research studies on human bodies.
• Serum samples of all the participants were taken and studied for a period of eight years.
• It was found from the research that people with less IGF-1 hormone activity in their serum were at high risks of dying earlier.
• Elderly people with low IGF-1 hormone activity and heart disease complains were most likely to die early when compared to other participants of the study.

What is Bioassay: In order to gain these further insights, researchers employed new testing method for determining IGF-1 hormone in serum. The new technique was Bioassay and provided more information when compared to previous techniques, on how the hormone increased the longevity in elderly people.

According to researcher Dr. Michael Brugts who lead the team of scientists conducting the study, Bioassay technique clearly demonstrated the close relation between high activity of IGF-1 hormone and extended survival. The study was conducted in the Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

Previously, a techniques called Immunoassays was used to find out the IGF-1 hormone level in the serum. But this technique caused changes in the body chemicals and disturbed the measurement of the hormone accurately. The body chemicals (called proteins) which were changed by Immunoassays technique are found to play an important role in understanding the process by which IGF-1 hormone extends life. Bioassay technique kept these chemicals in tact and effectively provided clear information on IGF-1 hormone’s role in longevity