It’s a goal shared by many, but the reality is that only 2.7% of the US population reach the age of 100.

In fact, the feat is so impressive that in the UK, centenarians receive a personal card signed by the King – a great honor for those celebrating their 100th birthday.

And given that the last British census noted that there were 15,120 people aged over 100 living in the UK – equating to only around 0.02% of Britain’s population of around 68 million people – surviving that long even in a privileged country is no mean feat.

It absolutely deserves royal acknowledgement.

So people around the world were both saddened at the death of the world’s oldest person, and staggered at her age of 117 years and 168 days, when Maria Branyas Morera died in August 2024.

The Catalonian woman enjoyed a healthy Mediterranean diet throughout her almost six decades, and lived an active lifestyle surrounded by family and friends.

And thus, researchers from the Josep Carreras Leukemia Research Institute in Spain were keen to understand exactly how this wise woman had lived such a long life – spanning both World Wars and seeing a whole lot of history made in the process.

In fact, what the scientists decided was that there were many factors that made this supercentenarian so adept at surviving many of the things that the rest of us would succumb to.

And their findings will give many of us some food for thought.

Despite her ever-advancing years, the scientists believed that the healthy diet and active lifestyle that Maria followed throughout her long life were key to keeping her mentally and physically healthy into her old age.

By examining her gut microbiome, they understood that her dietary choices were hugely influential in her overall health. In particular, this was especially in keeping the vital microorganisms in her gastrointestinal tract working as they should, as the researchers explain in their paper (a pre-print of which is available on BioRxiv):

“Microorganisms are critical in determining not only the metabolite composition of our body, but also inflammation, intestinal permeability, cognition, and bone and muscle health.”

Thanks to her love of yogurt and Mediterranean foods, her gut was healthy – which had a positive effect on her immune system and cardiac health too, since her cholesterol remained low into her later years.

But this was not the only factor preventing her from disease.

In fact, in examining Maria’s DNA, the researchers noted genes that supported a strong immune system. Her DNA was crucial in lowering her genetic cancer risk, as well as protecting her from all sorts of conditions including inflammation and heart disease too – effectively keeping her younger for longer:

“Our supercentenarian exhibited a much younger biological age than her real chronological age and this occurred in the three different tissues analyzed.”

And though the researchers confirmed in their paper that her longevity was a result of biological processes and genetic factors within her individual DNA and microbiome, it’s clear that the life she lived played an important part too.

In Maria’s own words, her long life was due to an ‘orderly life and pleasant surroundings’, and isn’t that a compelling lesson to us all?

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