12-05-2025
These are the secrets to long life according to the world's oldest people
A woman who lived to the age of 117 put her longevity down to eating yoghurt - and scientists say she may have been right.
Maria Branyas Morera was the oldest living person in the world until she passed away at a nursing home in Spain last August.
When she was alive, Morera credited her long lifespan to eating three yoghurts a day, and researchers who studied her gut microbiome have suggested they may have contributed.
They found her gut was extremely healthy and that she had cells that functioned as if they were 17 years younger than her age.
Scientists in Barcelona found Morera's microbiome had high levels of bifidobacteria, also known as gut microbiota, that lives in the digestive tract.
Before she died, Morera said she didn't smoke or drink alcohol, enjoyed a walk every day and ate lots of fruit and vegetables. She also said she avoided "toxic people".
So what are some of the other secrets to a long life, according to the people who know best... centenarians.
Ethel Caterham, who lives in a care home in Lightwater, Surrey, became the oldest person in the world this month, at the age of 115.
She was born on 21 August 1909 and is the last surviving subject of Kind Edward VII.
Caterham said her secret to a long life was "never arguing with anyone". She said: "I listen and I do what I like."
She continued driving until she was 97 and one of her sisters, Gladys, lived to the age of 104.
Read more on this story from Surrey Live
Kathleen Jennings, who turned 105 last October, said her longevity was down to two factors: never getting married and drinking Guinness.
Born in Brixton in 1919, she celebrated her 105th birthday at a care home in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, on 2 October.
She received a Guinness hamper for her birthday, filled with pint glasses, an apron, chocolates and cans of the stout.
When asked for advice on a long life, she said: "Drink Guinness and don't marry!"
Read more on this story from Yahoo Life UK
In March, Josie Church and Anne Wallace-Hadrill, who celebrated their 101st birthdays together, said always keeping themselves busy had helped them reach past a century.
The pair are neighbours in Oxford and both were born on 1 April 1924.
"You do what seems to be needing doing, and then you do that, and then something else takes its place," said Church.
"You just go on from one thing to another. We don't engineer our lives. I think they've just engineered us."
Read more on this story from Yahoo Life UK
Sister Inah Canabarro Lucas, 116, from Brazil, was the world's oldest person until her death at the end of April.
She died a few weeks before she was due to turn 117, and was born on 27 May 1908.
She said her Catholic faith was what led to her longevity, and was part of the Company of Saint Teresa of Jesus nun congregation in Porto Alegre, Brazil.
She was the second oldest nun ever, after Frenchwoman Lucile Randon, who died in 2023 at the age of 118.
Read more on this story from PA Media
Dinkie Flowers, from Shoreham, West Sussex, turned 104 earlier this month and celebrated by dancing at her birthday party, the BBC reported.
She has been dancing for 101 years and ran her own dance school until five years ago.
In an interview in 2023, she said: 'Dancing has helped keep me healthy, everyone should do something, they shouldn't be on their bottom all day."
Read more on this story from Yahoo Life UK
