The study showed swapping older ovaries for younger ones in mice can cut he risk of age-related health problems, including heart disease, arthritis, immune, brain and liver function, as well as increasing longevity.New research has revealed that ovary transplants could be the secret to a longer life for women. The study involved removing the ovaries of 12-month-old mice and replacing them with the ovaries of 60-day out mice.

Lead researcher Professor Jeffrey Mason, of Utah State University, told the Sunday Express: “It is amazing and very exciting. In our study mice didn’t look old when they were old.

“Our goal is to make people healthy through their lifespan and have people playing soccer with their great grandchildren. I think this research is moving so fast it is a real possibility and I cannot see any major roadblocks.”

As part of the study, Professor Mason removed the ovaries of 10 mice that were 12 months old and had gone through oestropause, a transition similar to the human menopause. He replaced these with ovaries taken from 60-day old mice – roughly equivalent to people in their early twenties in comparable ageing.

About four months later, Professor Mason tested the immune systems of the mice and found they were similar to those of the younger mice.

His team also discovered the mice transplanted with younger ovaries on average, live 40 per cent longer and had healthier looking hearts.

Professor Mason said: “When these mice die we carry out post mortems and find their internal organs – their heart, their lungs, their kidneys, their livers – are as healthy as a mouse half their age.

“What is surprising is that they die, because they are so youthful. We think that even though we have reversed the ageing process and given what appears to be eternal youth there is still something in their genes that causes them to eventually die.

“But they die very fit and in the rudest of health with no signs of the diseases of old age.

“This holds out a potentially rosy future for older women in the future.”