Mice with sky-high metabolic rates live far longer than their sluggish cousins, UK researchers have found, raising the prospect that human lifespan might be lengthened with metabolism-boosting drugs.

The group of animals with the highest metabolic rates lived over a third longer than the group with the lowest rates, they found, and had metabolisms that ran about 30% faster. If the same is true in humans, this means that people with a speedy metabolism might add an extra 27 years onto a typical 70-year lifespan.

They found evidence that mice with a high metabolic rate have more vigorous “uncoupling proteins,” which cause the mitochondria to generate heat instead of producing fuel. Since more of their energy escapes as heat, the mitochondria have to run at full speed in order to keep generating enough chemical fuel for the cell.

At the same time, the mitochondria may run more efficiently and release fewer harmful free radicals, hence slowing the aging process.