In fact, the secret to living to 100 or more may be all in the genes.

New research suggests that your life choices might not be the crucial factor in determining whether you make it to 95 or beyond; it finds that many extremely old people appear to have been as bad as everyone else at indulging in poor health habits during their younger years.

This is not an excuse to make unhealthy diet choices or to skip regular exercise.

You may be genetically blessed with long lived genes but the quality of your life may be impacted by your environment and habits.

A long life can still be plagued with chronic illness or debilitating ailments.

A healthy lifestyle is still the best defense against disease.