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CNN Live Today
'Daily Dose'
Aired October 15, 2003 - 11:44 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: When it comes to the cholesterol in your bloodstream, it turns out bigger might be better. There's a new study finding the size of cholesterol particles may be linked to longer life.
We need our medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen here to explain this in our "Daily Dose" of health news -- big cholesterol.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Big cholesterol is good, because if you picture an artery, what can get in and clog an artery, little pieces; the big ones can't get in there. So you want the bigger pieces. That's a good news. And there's group in New York that studied of 213 people, average age 98, they wanted to see what made these people live so long. Now this gentlemen here, he is 99. He wasn't a part of the study, but he's someone who we're looking at for a documentary that we're doing on the fountain of youth, and he's going to be 99 years old.
KAGAN: He's adorable.
COHEN: Yes, it's the shorter man who's the older one, and this woman here is 101 years old. She is actually my great, great aunt.
KAGAN: Really? What's her name?
COHEN: Her name is Charlotte Shipman (ph). She is a lovely, lovely women.
And what they found when they looked at people like (AUDIO GAP)
COHEN: ... they were much more likely to have a gene that gave them the bigger version of these cholesterol cells. So, for example, in the general population, 8 percent of people will have the gene that gives them the bigger cholesterol, but in this population of older people, 25 percent of them had the bigger cell. And so that's led many people to believe that living long isn't about eating well and living healthy, it has a lot to do with your genes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. BARD GEESAMAN, ELIXIR PHARMACEUTICALS: Part of living to extreme ages, it's probably about 50 percent in your genes, and that's what the data suggests. So that's been determined.
Now, it's our job to figure out which genes are actually causing the exceptional longevity in these human beings. We found a couple genes I can't tell you about now, but we're going to be publishing them this year, that also affect longevity in a similar manner. So in other words, if you have the right combination of these genes, your chances of living longer and greater are greater than people who don't have these special genes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COHEN: So if you're not lucky enough to be born with genes, what can you do? Well, one thing to improve your cholesterol, you can of course eat right, you can exercise, and have a glass or two of wine a day. You can't do anything about your genes, but those things can help.
KAGAN: You can help. It's family week. You had your aunt Charlotte on, and my mom's coming on with us tomorrow.
COHEN: There you go, Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
KAGAN: Two wonderful women.
Yes absolutely. She is talking about being diagnosed this year and successful recovery from that. So thank you, Elizabeth.
COHEN: And on November 9th, we'll have our special on the fountain of youth.
KAGAN: We look forward to that.
COHEN: Look for aunt Charlotte.
KAGAN: More of aunt Charlotte, absolutely.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired October 15, 2003 - 11:44 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: When it comes to the cholesterol in your bloodstream, it turns out bigger might be better. There's a new study finding the size of cholesterol particles may be linked to longer life.
We need our medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen here to explain this in our "Daily Dose" of health news -- big cholesterol.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Big cholesterol is good, because if you picture an artery, what can get in and clog an artery, little pieces; the big ones can't get in there. So you want the bigger pieces. That's a good news. And there's group in New York that studied of 213 people, average age 98, they wanted to see what made these people live so long. Now this gentlemen here, he is 99. He wasn't a part of the study, but he's someone who we're looking at for a documentary that we're doing on the fountain of youth, and he's going to be 99 years old.
KAGAN: He's adorable.
COHEN: Yes, it's the shorter man who's the older one, and this woman here is 101 years old. She is actually my great, great aunt.
KAGAN: Really? What's her name?
COHEN: Her name is Charlotte Shipman (ph). She is a lovely, lovely women.
And what they found when they looked at people like (AUDIO GAP)
COHEN: ... they were much more likely to have a gene that gave them the bigger version of these cholesterol cells. So, for example, in the general population, 8 percent of people will have the gene that gives them the bigger cholesterol, but in this population of older people, 25 percent of them had the bigger cell. And so that's led many people to believe that living long isn't about eating well and living healthy, it has a lot to do with your genes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. BARD GEESAMAN, ELIXIR PHARMACEUTICALS: Part of living to extreme ages, it's probably about 50 percent in your genes, and that's what the data suggests. So that's been determined.
Now, it's our job to figure out which genes are actually causing the exceptional longevity in these human beings. We found a couple genes I can't tell you about now, but we're going to be publishing them this year, that also affect longevity in a similar manner. So in other words, if you have the right combination of these genes, your chances of living longer and greater are greater than people who don't have these special genes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COHEN: So if you're not lucky enough to be born with genes, what can you do? Well, one thing to improve your cholesterol, you can of course eat right, you can exercise, and have a glass or two of wine a day. You can't do anything about your genes, but those things can help.
KAGAN: You can help. It's family week. You had your aunt Charlotte on, and my mom's coming on with us tomorrow.
COHEN: There you go, Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
KAGAN: Two wonderful women.
Yes absolutely. She is talking about being diagnosed this year and successful recovery from that. So thank you, Elizabeth.
COHEN: And on November 9th, we'll have our special on the fountain of youth.
KAGAN: We look forward to that.
COHEN: Look for aunt Charlotte.
KAGAN: More of aunt Charlotte, absolutely.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
