THE age-old riddle of why many women live longer than men has been solved. It’s their pumping power, British researchers have found.

On average, women live five years longer than men and women over the age of 60 are now the fastest-growing section of the British population.

The average male heart becomes weaker with age, and by the age of 70 its power to pump blood around the body could have decreased by up to a quarter of its youthful strength.

David Goldspink, Professor of Cell and Molecular Sports Science at Liverpool John Moores University, said yesterday that women’s longevity is linked to the strength of their hearts. Unlike men, they pump just as strongly at 70 as they do at 20.

“We have found that the power of the male heart falls by 20-25 per cent between 18 and 70 years of age,” Professor Goldspink said. “In stark contrast, over the same period there was no age-related decline in the power of the female heart, meaning that the heart of a healthy 70-year-old woman could perform almost as well as a 20-year-old’s.”

The dramatic difference between the sexes might explain why women live longer. The good news is that men of any age can improve the health of their heart simply by taking more regular exercise.

The results are based on the findings of a two-year study of a cross-section of the British population, which examined the effects of ageing on the cardiovascular system.

Professor Goldspink and a team of scientists at the university’s Research Unit for Human Development and Ageing examined more than 250 men and women between 18 and 80.

None of the volunteers had a weekly exercise routine and all were considered to have low fitness levels, but were otherwise healthy. Each volunteer underwent five hours of tests to measure their blood pressure and the performance of their heart while at rest and while they exercised on a treadmill.

The researchers found that the large arteries in the body became stiffer and less elastic with age, causing increased blood pressure. Blood flow to the muscles and skin of the limbs was also found progressively to decrease. These changes were found to occur earlier in men, but women caught up soon after the menopause.

Professor Goldspink said: “By simultaneously studying both men and women we have been able to look for either similarities or differences between the two sexes as we get older. We now have a much clearer holistic picture of changes that take place in the human body throughout our life cycle.”

The decrease in the power of the male heart was attributed to a loss of millions of cells that regulate the contraction and relaxation of the heart muscle.

“Between the ages of 20 and 70 men lose around one third of these contractile cells as a consequence of ageing, but the amount lost is a lot less in the female heart,” Professor Goldspink said.

Researchers will now attempt to find why these cells are preserved better in women than in men. In a related study, Professor Goldspink found the hearts of veteran male athletes between the ages of 50 and 70 were as powerful as those of 20-year-old male undergraduates who did not exercise. He is now calling for a major public campaign to tell people how much exercise they should take to ensure they age healthily.

He said: “The public need better information and advice based on strong scientific evidence. Once we can tell them precisely what health benefits they can gain in response to different levels of physical activity, they can then make a realistic and informed choice for themselves.”

THE HEART OF THE MATTER

• Coronary heart disease (CHD) is the single biggest threat to women’s life expectancy
• In 2001 CHD claimed the lives of more than 54,000 women in the UK — more than four times the number attributed to breast cancer
• Women tend to develop CHD at an older age than men, but once women reach the menopause the risk of suffering a heart attack increases
• If you are physically inactive, you are twice as likely to have a heart attack than someone who exercises regularly
• More than 270,000 people in Britain suffer a heart attack each year
• About 30 per cent die before reaching hospital because of cardiac arrest
• Below the age of 50, smokers are five times more likely to die of CHD than those who do not smoke
• Eating less saturated fat, found in foods such as dairy products, and more fruit and vegetables helps to lower cholesterol levels and reduces the risk of a heart attack
• CHD affects the blood vessels (or coronary arteries) of the heart and can lead to angina (chest pain) and a heart attack
• Research suggests that black women are more likely to die from heart disease than white women

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