--- title: The Gene That Makes You Look Older Than You Are description: A gene responsible for inflammation and repairing damaged DNA can give you a more youthful or aged appearance canonical: https://time.com/4311822/gene-aging/ author: Alice Park article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-04-29T14:31:42.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:55:42.158Z article:section: Health og:title: The Gene That Makes You Look Older Than You Are og:description: A gene responsible for inflammation and repairing damaged DNA can give you a more youthful or aged appearance og:url: https://time.com/4311822/gene-aging/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt758d8d43b60d4638/698891e2bc6cfcc9e83dcd9e/handz.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2021 og:image:height: 1137 og:image:alt: 512160707 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Gene That Makes You Look Older Than You Are twitter:description: A gene responsible for inflammation and repairing damaged DNA can give you a more youthful or aged appearance twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt758d8d43b60d4638/698891e2bc6cfcc9e83dcd9e/handz.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 video:duration: 07:08 video:published: 2014-05-23 section: health topics: Ikaria, Greek island lifestyle, longevity, stress, urban versus rural life, Athens, family, tradition, daily pace of life, alcohol consumption, sleep, documentary portrayal genre: documentary, interview tones: reflective, warm, candid, contemplative emotions: pride (medium), nostalgia (medium), contentment (medium), concern (low) sentiment: positive audience: health-conscious readers, travelers, general interest viewers, people curious about longevity content_suitability: drugs and alcohol [05:05-05:19] transcript_source: publisher captions transcript_reviewed: not applicable ---  # The Gene That Makes You Look Older Than You Are > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME Health Matters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Health Matters is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. The latest health news and expert advice on living well. Health Matters makes the fast-moving world of health more useful, surprising and human, from the latest science and medical breakthroughs to practical ideas for living better. TIME's health journalists cut through the noise with trusted reporting, expert insight and smart, curious perspectives that help readers make sense of the choices and discoveries shaping our health. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's weekday health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=86b2f658-3650-4f94-a03a-7fb8a2996e13&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) ## Video: The Island That Holds the Secret to Long Life [Watch (HLS stream): The Island That Holds the Secret to Long Life](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/orlnwhNb.m3u8) (7:08)  _Published 2014-05-23. Here's how the people of Ikaria, Greece reach old age_ Description, summary, key points, chapters, key quotes, questions and transcript, where present, were produced automatically from the video or its captions and were not reviewed. ## Summary The video explores Ikaria, a Greek island, and the way its people approach life, contrasting their slower pace and lower stress with life in Athens. Residents describe cultural habits such as avoiding stress, seeking small pleasures and living day to day. A speaker recounts working for his uncle and quitting after three days, and another questions how documentaries portray the island by focusing only on old people. Closing segments describe the value placed on family, continuity and enjoying the present. ## Key points - Ikaria's people are described as having a different lifestyle and way of looking at life, moving at their own pace. (00:18) - Athens is described as a crowded big city where crowding is a major stress and where obesity and anxiety are common. (01:52) - The island's residents are described as living in an epicurean culture that avoids stress or copes well with it. (03:02) - When stress cannot be avoided, Ikarians are said to seek small pleasures and live the day as it comes. (03:16) - A speaker says he took work with his uncle, worked three days, then quit because the early starts and long hours were too much. (03:59) - A speaker says documentaries about Ikaria show only old people and nature, not what young people are doing in their lives. (04:50) - A speaker doubts he would live as many years as Ikarians, citing heavy alcohol drinking and poor sleep. (05:05) - A speaker says older people draw a strong sense of continuity and fulfillment from family and enjoying the present moment. (06:44) ## Chapters - [00:00 to 01:38] Ikaria's distinct way of life. Speakers describe the island's unique identity, slower pace and approach to getting things done. - [01:38 to 03:02] Life in Athens versus Ikaria. A speaker contrasts the stress and health effects of city life in Athens with the environment on Ikaria. - [03:02 to 04:47] Cultural habits and stress. Speakers credit the people of Ikaria and their epicurean culture for avoiding stress and seeking small pleasures. - [04:47 to 06:07] Documentaries and lifestyle concerns. A speaker says documentaries focus on old people, and another doubts he would live as long given his drinking and sleep. - [06:07 to 07:08] Tradition, family and the present. Speakers discuss preserving Ikarian tradition and the older generation's sense of family continuity and contentment. ## Key quotes - [00:18] Ikarian speaker: "The people are not what you would find in other places, they have a different lifestyle, a different way of looking at life." - [03:02] Ikarian speaker: "It's the people of Ikaria that make the difference, the people are really for Ikaria." - [03:02] Ikarian speaker: "They live the day as it comes." - [04:50] Ikarian speaker: "In the documentaries they show only old people, they don't show nothing else, old people and the nature." - [05:05] Ikarian speaker: "I don't think that I would live so many years as them because, with the live that we are doing now it's, it's bad because we drink alcohol so much." - [06:44] Ikarian speaker: "They're not looking for new things. They're enjoying the things that they have in the moments they have." ## Questions this video answers - What makes the people of Ikaria different from people elsewhere? [00:18] - How does life in Athens compare to life on Ikaria, according to the speakers? [01:52] - What cultural habits help Ikarians manage stress? [03:02] - Why did one speaker quit working for his uncle? [03:59] - Do the speakers think they would live as long as older Ikarians? [05:05] - What do older Ikarians value in life, according to the speakers? [06:44] ## Content suitability - drugs and alcohol [05:05-05:19]: A speaker mentions drinking alcohol heavily as a reason he doubts he would live as long.  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent Apr 29, 2016 2:31 PM UTC  Old and young hands Old and young hands Getty Images  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent Apr 29, 2016 2:31 PM UTC Signs of aging set in earlier in some people compared to others, especially in the face. Until now, experts have attributed most of these to lifestyle or environmental exposures, like time spent in the sun, smoking or too much stress. But in a [study reported in the journal _Current Biology_](http://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822%2816%2930184-1), scientists now say that a person’s youthful or aged appearance can partly be traced to different versions of a specific gene. Called MC1R, it’s responsible for inflammation and repairing damaged DNA. Scientists led by Manfred Kayser, a professor of forensic molecular biology at Erasmus University in the Netherlands, and David Gunn, a senior scientist from the company Unilever, studied the genomes of 2,600 older Dutch people and compared their DNA makeup to assessments of people’s perceived age from their facial photographs. In the entire genome, they found one gene that stood out for having different forms in people who looked older than they actually were and in people who looked younger than their age. People who had certain forms of the MC1R gene looked about two years older for their age, compared to people with other variants of the gene. This effect remained strong even after the researchers accounted for other possible aging-related factors, such as a person’s skin pigment (fair versus more olive toned) and the extent of their facial wrinkles. **Read More:** [These Are the Genes Behind Healthy Aging](http://time.com/4303334/genes-aging/) That suggests that how old we look is in part regulated by genes. And this perceived age isn’t just a matter of aesthetics. More research suggests that outward signs of aging may be linked to faster, premature aging, and that may put these people at higher risk of certain diseases associated with living longer, including heart problems, cognitive decline and cancer. But it’s not clear year exactly how aging-appearance genes work to age us. While the gene identified in the study, MC1R, is critical for melanin or skin pigment, it’s likely contributing to aging in a different way. That’s because the effect remained the same for both darker and lighter skinned people, and for people who spent a lot of time in sun and those who didn’t. Since MC1R is also involved in DNA damage and repair processes and inflammation, Kayser and Gunn believe that some versions of the gene may impede DNA repair, contributing to quicker aging of cells. **Read More** **:** [The Cure for Aging](http://time.com/3706701/cure-for-aging/) It’s unlikely that MC1R is the only gene that contributes to how old we look. Kayser says that the genome-wide scan he and his team did involved only several thousands of people, all of European descent. By scanning more people, more variants in different genes will emerge that play a role in aging and the appearance of aging. “This is just the first gene,” he says. “We hope that once this work continues, and we find more genes, they will lead us more directly toward pathways that help us understand how old we look on the outside and how that differs from how old we are on the inside.” ## Transcript [00:00] [ MUSIC ]. [00:18] Ikaria is a very unique island. The people are not what [00:21] you would find in other places, they have a different [00:24] lifestyle, a different way of looking at life. We might [00:28] seem like we're not getting things done, or we might [00:30] be moving slowly, but we just move at our own pace [00:32] and things do get done in the end. Being Ikaria is [00:36] an identity unto [01:38] itself. [ MUSIC ] [ FOREIGN ]. [ FOREIGN ] People wanna [01:41] live long, it's natural. Life is a gift, and [01:46] people want to enjoy it. [01:49] [ MUSIC ] [01:52] Unfortunately, you know, Athens is not a carrier. [01:56] Athens is a big city, people are crowded, crowding [01:58] alone is a major stress. It's [02:02] difficult to live there, connected life. There is [02:06] a lot [02:20] of obesity, there is a lot of anxiety. We've started [02:25] already to be seeing the results [02:33] of stress. In Ikaria they're not crowded, [02:39] they have the water right next to [02:45] them. Just the environment where they live, it's better. [02:48] [ FOREIGN ] [ INAUDIBLE ]. [ FOREIGN ]. It's [03:02] the people of Ikaria that make the difference, the [03:05] people are really for Ikaria. In Ikaria, it's cultural, it's [03:09] an epicurean culture, they avoid stress, or cope well [03:11] with it. When they cannot avoid it, they [03:16] seek small pleasures. They live the day as it comes. [03:21] So, somehow naturally, they're doing things that we [03:23] should all be doing. [ FOREIGN ]. [03:32] I got [03:37] money from [03:59] my uncle Giannis. He said to me, come with me for [04:03] work, for one week and I will give you money, I said, [04:05] okay. I went first three days, [04:09] and then I said, I, I quit, I cannot do it anymore. I was [04:13] waking up at 6 o'clock and working until, [04:17] four, five and he was saying, come on, let's go, let's go [04:20] until night. [04:47] [ FOREIGN ]. [ MUSIC ] [ FOREIGN ]. In the [04:50] documentaries they show only old people, they don't [04:55] show nothing else, old people and the nature. They [04:58] don't show the young people, what are they doing in [05:00] their lives, you know? [ NOISE ]. [05:05] I don't think that I would live so many years as them [05:08] because, with the live that we are doing now it's, [05:14] it's bad because we drink alcohol so much. We [05:19] don't sleep good. [ NOISE ] [06:07] [ FOREIGN ]. [ FOREIGN ]. [ FOREIGN ]. I'm looking [06:10] forward to the people of Ikaria being able to come [06:13] together, and work for the good of their island. And [06:16] I'm also looking forward to the next generation, to see [06:19] how they turn out and where they're going to be in 20 [06:22] years time. I think it's gonna be a very interesting [06:24] journey. We like the tradition of Ikaria, the history, the [06:29] music, the culture, everything. We like it, and we trying, [06:34] I think, my generation is trying to keep it, you know, [06:37] not lose it. What I learn a lot from the older people is [06:40] their sense of continuity, their strong sense of family, [06:44] their strong sense of, my children have grown. I've [06:48] seen my grandchildren, my life is complete, I'm [06:50] fulfilled. They're not looking for new things. They're [06:54] enjoying the things that they have in the moments they [06:56] have. They're not looking for the next one, and the [06:59] next one before they've actually enjoyed the present [07:01] one. 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