We all know good genes have alot to do with our overall health and how long we live. Now it may come down to having a particular gene that helps you not only live longer but actually  maintain mental function and delay Alzheimer's Disease as you age.

Researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University say in an article published in Medical News Today, that their study found that paticipants who scored high on the cognitive tests of mental ability were  two to three times more likely to possess the W variant of the CETP gene.

“Without good brain function, living to age 100 is not an attractive proposition,”  Dr. Barzilai, Director of the Institute for Aging Research at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine,   said in a press release. “We’ve shown that the same gene variant that helps people live to exceptional ages has the added benefit of helping them think clearly for most of their long lives."

This study comes on the heels of a related  study where scientist also found that those paticipants, averaging 75 to 85 years in age, who did not develop dementia were five times more likely to have the CETP W gene than those who did not.

Scientists have found a link between the W Variant and cholesterol in this latest study.   Cholesterol appears to change the properties of CETP W by preventing the buildup in the brains' blood vessels.



This latest study suggests that the cholesterol changing properties of CETP W may be protecting mental function by preventing the build up of cholesterol in the brain's blood vessels, thus reducing strokes and heart attacks, or by some other means that is yet to be discovered.

The most ground breaking revelation of the study is that the CETP W variant changes the size of the good (HDL) and bad (LDL) cholesterol composition in the blood. The study goes on to suggests that this will help people live longer because the smaller molecules of cholesterol are likely to get stuck in the blood vessels more often and can lead to clots.

Centerians in the study were three times more likely to have the CETP W variant and also had the  larger HDL and LDL cholesterol molecules in their blood.