Could humans really live past 150? 72-year-old Putin and Xi discuss immortality; here is what science says

A hot microphone caught a 40-second snippet of chatter between Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, China’s President Xi Jinping, and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un at Beijing’s largest-ever military parade. In the video clip, three of the most influential and unpredictable leaders in the world are seen discussing how medical advancements like organ transplants could allow people to live past 150 years or even become immortal.

“With the development of biotechnology, human organs can be continuously transplanted, and people can live younger and younger and even achieve immortality,” Putin, 72, told Xi, who is also 72, and Kim.

With nearly unlimited resources at their disposal and the best scientific minds in their countries, these men may be the only ones with a chance to extend human life. But is it backed by science or some political rhetoric, which they are masters of?

What does science say about anti-aging?

To get a better idea about mortality, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the average global life expectancy at birth was 71.3 years in 2021. For more background, the oldest confirmed age is still held by Jeanne Calment of France, who passed away in 1997 at the age of 122.

This does not necessarily mean we have reached the limits of longevity or that scientists have reached a consensus on whether there is a biological limit on the human lifespan.

"The debate is not settled," Ilaria Bellantuono, a researcher on the biology of aging at the University of Sheffield, told AFP.

Mortality rates eventually level off, so a person who is 115 years old has no higher chance of dying than someone who is 105, according to a 2018 study published in the journal Science.

A French 24 article explains, ‘Other researchers have warned that data about extreme longevity could be misleading, citing numerous cases of people forging birth certificates to commit pension fraud.’

Is organ transplant an option for anti-aging?

Putin, who reportedly baths in reindeer blood because it is thought to strengthen bodies and slow down the aging process, went beyond simply averting death when he stated that people could live longer lives by regularly replacing their failing organs.

“That doesn’t have any basis in scientific method or fact,” Professor Peter Currie, an international leader in regenerative medicine from Monash University in Melbourne, told the Sydney Morning Herald.

As aging is a multi-organ, systemic failure, replacing your organs is probably not going to extend your life, he explains. Donated organ transplantation is not a viable long-term solution, in part because transplant recipients must take strong immunosuppressive medications for the rest of their lives, according to the portal.

Researches about anti-aging

According to a June study in the journal aging Cell, the medication rapamycin, which seems to influence epigenetic aging, has been shown to increase the lifespan of a number of animals, including mice. But the same cannot be said for humans.

However, there are emerging technologies that might eventually avoid this issue. According to the London Times, Mikhail Kovalchuk, the head of Russia's Kurchatov nuclear research institute and a close Putin ally who is allegedly "crazy about eternal life," has directed health officials to look into 3D bioprinting.

With the use of scaffolding gels, biomolecules, and living cells instead of ink, this technology "prints" functional body tissues and organs. A replacement kidney or heart could be made from the patient's own cells, eliminating the need for immunosuppressive medications and the procurement of donated organs. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, this technology is young but developing.