It may have taken them a while to figure out how Ozzy Osbourne has managed to survive his crazy lifestyle, but scientists may have found the answer: he is a mutant.
After recently studing on the rock star at Knome Inc., a Massachusetts's lab, scientists discovered he possesses several genetic mutations, according to New York Daily News. Because of these mutations, he's been able to live as long as he has, despite all of his partying.
Some of them, the genetics, "we've never seen before," said geneticist Nathaniel Pearson, who was a part of the study.
"He has increased predisposition for alcohol dependence of something like six times higher," Knome's co-founded Jorge Conde told ABC News. "He also had a slight increased risk for cocaine addiction but he dismissed that. He said that if anyone has done as much cocaine as he had, they would have been hooked."
He's admitted to taking LSD every day for two years and once said that he "drank booze like water."
Conde and the company became interested in exploring the genes last July. They wanted to study somebody as musically talented as Ozzy. They wanted to see if good genes had anything to do with the fact that he easily handled such an "aggressive" life style.
Even his wife, Sharon Osbourne, always knew there was something up with Ozzy. "I've always said that at the end of the world there will be roaches, Ozzy and Keith Richards," she said. "He's going to outlive us all. That fascinated me – how his body can endure so much."
It took a while for Ozzy to consent to the study and he was skeptical but "curious," he revealed.
"Given the swimming pools of booze I've guzzled over the years," Ozzy wrote in his column, "The Wisdom of Oz," for the Sunday Times of London. "Not to mention all the cocaine, morphine, sleeping pills, cough syrup, LSD, Rohypnol, you name it – there is really no plausible medical reason why I should be alive. Maybe my DNA could say why."
He can handle pretty much anything, and also has a 2.6-times increased chance of experiencing hallucinations after smoking marijuana – something he frequently smoked with other drugs in his system.
So what does affect Ozzy based on his genes? Ironically it's caffeine. Caffeine has the potential to affect him more than any other drug.
"Turns out that Ozzy's kryptonite is caffeine," Conde said.
