People whose parents live a long life are 25% less likely to get cancer People whose parents live into their 90s stand a stronger chance against age-related diseases Those whose mothers lived past 91 or fathers past 97 were 24 per cent less likely to get cancer Mortality rates drop by up to 19 per cent for each decade that at least one parent lives past the age of 65 People whose parents who live to a ripe old age are more likely to live longer themselves, and are less prone to cancer and other common diseases associated with ageing. Those whose mothers live beyond the age of 91 or fathers live past 97 are 24 per cent less likely to get cancer, say researchers from the University of Exeter Medical School. They discovered that overall mortality rates dropped by up to 19 per cent for each decade that at least one of the parents lived past the age of 65. Research has found that if your mother lives into her 90s, your risk of cancer and other age-related diseases is lowered For those whose mothers lived beyond 85, mortality rates were 40 per cent lower, reports The Journals of Gerontology: Series A. The figure was a little lower (14 per cent) for fathers, possibly because of adverse lifestyle factors such as smoking, which may have been more common in the fathers. The research saw nearly 10,000 people questioned. The participants were based in America, and were followed up over 18 years, from 1992 to 2010. They were interviewed every two years, with questions including the ages of their parents and when they died. In 2010, the participants were in their seventies. Professor William Henley, from the University of Exeter Medical School, said: 'Previous studies have shown that the children of centenarians tend to live longer with less heart disease, but this is the first robust evidence that the children of longer-lived parents are also less likely to get cancer. Overall mortality rates dropped by up to 19 per cent for each decade that at least one of the parents lived past the age of 65 We also found that they are less prone to diabetes or suffering a stroke. These protective effects are passed on from parents who live beyond 65 - far younger than shown in previous studies, which have looked at those over the age of 80. Obviously children of older parents are not immune to contracting cancer or any other diseases of ageing, but our evidence shows that rates are lower. We also found that this inherited resistance to age-related diseases gets stronger the older their parents lived. Ambarish Dutta, from the Asian Institute of Public Health at the Ravenshaw University in India, said: 'Interestingly from a nature versus nurture perspective, we found no evidence that these health advantages are passed on from parents-in-law. Despite being likely to share the same environment and lifestyle in their married lives, spouses had no health benefit from their parents-in-law reaching a ripe old age. If the findings resulted from cultural or lifestyle factors, you might expect these effects to extend to husbands and wives in at least some cases, but there was no impact whatsoever.