If the oldest woman in the world smokes and drinks....?

Question

Jeanne Calment is 122+ and she has always smoked and drunk red wine.....so could it be that the 2 habits even each other out medically speaking?

Why does it seem that people who give up smoking get disease whilst those who NEVER quit seem to stay fairly healthy? Just looking at the oldest people on earth and most of them seem to be smokers.....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeanne_Calment

Answer 1

I once heard that 20% people are genetically immune to the lung cancer caused by tobacco. And reversely, some people (I do not know the statistics for that case) are so extremely susceptible to lung cancer that a very low exposure, for exemple to second-hand smoke, will do it.

Genetics plays a very important role in life expectancy. In the case of people living exceptionnally long lives (over 100), you can make pretty a safe bet that their ancestors, on the maternal side (you can check research on mitochondrial DNA for the reason for that, very interesting), also lived long lives, barring accidents.

But lifestyle is also very determinant in life expectancy. Smoking tobacco does shorten most smokers lives from lung cancer and heart disease. Not everybody has won the genetic lottery. And I doubt very much that red wine has any 'reversing effect' on the damage caused to the lungs by tobacco. Sure, if you have an otherwise healthy lifestyle, and you are not an habituated smoker (not a-pack-a-day person), it probably makes your risks not significantly higher that a non-smoker, if, and only if, you do not have a hightened genetic susceptibility.

But I know very few non-habituated, occasionnal smokers... And nothing tells you you do not have a genetic weakness for heart disease or lung cancer... So why take chances ?

Answer 2

So much of it is based on genetics and not just lifestyle. There are plenty of folks that smoke and do not get cancer or have heart problems and plenty of folks that don't smoke and do get cancer or have heart problems. However, if these health issues run in your family, you raise your risk of developing them if you smoke. On the flip side, if you are not prone to these diseases, it may take something as extreme as radioactive exposure to make your body betray itself. So, maybe these "oldest people on earth" just have strong genes. Survival of the fittest!

Answer 3

My uncle is 101 and he smokes and drinks (and drives in his small town) but my dad (his brother)who never smoked rarely drank died of a heart attack at 77. My uncle lives in the country and eats fresh eggs and meat from his own free range cattle and my dad lived in Dallas.

Answer 4

There is a great deal of difference among individuals, but the odds are if you smoke you be sicker throughout your life and will die at a younger age than if you had not smoked

Answer 5

well its not always true that smokers live longer cas everyone has the lifespan fixed according to many religions ...what somking does is it makes that life painful most of the time but u know there are always miracles...