Individuals who live past 95 years of age have similar lifestyles to the rest of the population regarding smoking, drinking, diet and exercise, researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University revealed in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. As far as longevity is concerned, it really does seem that nature matters more than nurture, the authors explained. Dr. Nir Barzilai and team interviewed 477 people aged at least 95 years, they were all Ashkenazi Jews and lived independently. 75% of them were female. Ashkenazi Jews are genetically similar to each other because they descend from a small founder group - this makes it easier to identify gene differences if any are present.