Study reveals how the world's oldest person lived long
A DNA study was conducted on Maria Branyas Morera, the world's oldest person at age 117, which revealed how she lived long.
In a published Cell Reports Medicine journal, doctors in Spain studied the genome of Morera, a US-born Spanish supercentenarian, who passed away in August 2024 at 117 after being hailed as the world's oldest living person.
According to a report by The Guardian, Morera allowed doctors to study her while she was living. It was found that Morera had lived long for winning the "genetic lottery" and living a healthy lifestyle.
Among the findings is that she had very short protective caps called telomeres on her chromosomes. While this indicated that her cells were very old, this has helped her become protected from other diseases like dementia, diabetes, and cancer, "because it could limit the replicative lifespan of any malignant cell."
The researchers also found a rare change in a gene called TIMELESS, which repairs DNA. This also affected how the mitochondria worked, which contributed to her long life.
“She was at least 10 to 15 years younger [than her chronological age],” Dr. Manel Esteller said, per The Guardian. "Her gut microbiome was also very young for her age with plenty of Bifidobacterium, which is also considered beneficial to health," the outlet added.
Other than her genetic luck, her healthy lifestyle also contributed to her long life. For one, they found that Morera consumed three servings of yogurt everyday, a good source of probiotics for her gut health.
“She never smoked, she never drank alcohol, she liked to work until she could (not) … She lived in the countryside, she did moderate exercise (mostly walking one hour a day)...She had a diet that included olive oil, Mediterranean style, and, in her case, yogurt,” he told CNN.
