Woman Deemed World's Oldest Person Dies at 116 in Michigan

[TrianglePythagoras]

I was the youngest person in the world once.

[BigBoy89]

That is some age which people don't tend to come even closer nowadays due to the increasing pollution in a global scale, i am a bit curious what diet these people who live so long stick to.

[Chef Ramsay]

The amazing thing to me is to think about all the eras this woman lived through. I only wish she had written an autobiography to share all these interesting stories about what she lived through.

[BigBoy89]

The amazing thing to me is to think about all the eras this woman lived through. I only wish she had written an autobiography to share all these interesting stories about what she lived through.

That would be great to read, a person who has seen the current generation and lived through many generations.

[bryant.coleman]

That is some age which people don't tend to come even closer nowadays due to the increasing pollution in a global scale, i am a bit curious what diet these people who live so long stick to.

I tend to disagree with that argument. The life expectancy is increasing every year, despite the pollution and climate change. And I have strong reasons to suspect that it will continue to tick upward, until a saturation point is reached. For sure, we are seeing a rise in cancer and other diseases due to the increasing pollution. But at the same time, the medical science is getting more and more advanced.

[Amph]

i remember one of those super old lady, they asked her what was her secret to live so long, and she said that she was eating 3 eggs per day

after that day i started eating 3 eggs a day as well, now i feel more fuller in the morning

Surely it's just a genetic lottery win? Humans certainly aren't designed to live that long and people with perfectly respectable lifestyles drop dead in their 50s and 60s every day.

If I was still above ground at 115 I'm not sure I'd be too pleased unless I'd been thoroughly upgraded along the way.

yes it is, but it has also been scientifically proven that a healthy diet , prolongs your life

I remember one of those super old lady, they asked her what was her secret to live so long, and she said that she was eating 3 eggs per day

after that day i started eating 3 eggs a day as well, now i feel more fuller in the morning

It will work with some people, and will not work with someone else. In the Caucasus region of the former Soviet Union, there was a man called Shirali Muslimov (died in 1973), who claimed that he was 168 years old. Some Russian researchers also confirmed his claim, from the census records. He claimed that yoghurt was the secret for his longeivity. The Danone company made a lot of publicity about it, to sell their yoghurt products.

it seems more of a joke, my example can more resemble the true, eggs are the superior choice in terms of food, they have everything, vitamins minerals and the best proteins, they also contain some omege 3

there is no comparison with youghurt or any other food

[bryant.coleman]

I remember one of those super old lady, they asked her what was her secret to live so long, and she said that she was eating 3 eggs per day

after that day i started eating 3 eggs a day as well, now i feel more fuller in the morning

It will work with some people, and will not work with someone else. In the Caucasus region of the former Soviet Union, there was a man called Shirali Muslimov (died in 1973), who claimed that he was 168 years old. Some Russian researchers also confirmed his claim, from the census records. He claimed that yoghurt was the secret for his longeivity. The Danone company made a lot of publicity about it, to sell their yoghurt products.

it seems more of a joke, my example can more resemble the true, eggs are the superior choice in terms of food, they have everything, vitamins minerals and the best proteing, they also contain some omege 3

there is no comparison with youghurt or any other food

Some parts of the Caucasus region are renowned for the longevity of its inhabitants. The case of Shirali Muslimov is not an isolated one. A few other cases (Mahmut Eyvazov, Sarhat Rashidova.etc) have been reported from that area. And as far as I know, the people there are not especially fond of eggs. However, they do consume a lot of milk products. Especially yoghurt, and Kefir (a fermented milk drink).

[Miracal]

How many of you guys think you can make it till 70? 

I certainly don't think so, haha. Healthy living matters. Even the right diet matters. But a long life is nothing if you haven't done anything worthwhile, anything productive, anything that has changed lives for the better. I thrive on positive living and change.

[gentlemand]

How many of you guys think you can make it till 70? 

I certainly don't think so, haha. Healthy living matters. Even the right diet matters. But a long life is nothing if you haven't done anything worthwhile, anything productive, anything that has changed lives for the better. I thrive on positive living and change.

My heart's genetically programmed to explode like a hand grenade between 55-60. In the meantime I maximise what's left by regularly staying up all night and doing whatever I feel like doing.

I don't get why anyone would fear death. It's a rapid solution to every conceivable problem. I am shitting myself at the prospect of it hurting though.

[Balthazar]

Surely it's just a genetic lottery win? Humans certainly aren't designed to live that long and people with perfectly respectable lifestyles drop dead in their 50s and 60s every day.

I am not sure whether the secret for longevity lies in the genes or in the lifestyle. But you can't say that humans aren't designed to live that long. There are references from 400 or 500 year ago, about people living up to 100 year or more. As the living standards increase, along with the advancement in the medical science, longevity will increase further.

There are some physiological limits. Approximated limit of average lifespan is about 250 years. If we solve genetic issues then there still would be another limitation due to nature of our brain. To be exact, there is no possibility to remember more than 4000-5000 years of living experience. You won't die but you'll forget anything what happened before last 4000-5000 years of your hypothetically unlimited life. And there will be no way to recover these memories.

[erikalui]

May her soul RIP.

When I read the wiki (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oldest_people) article, it wasn't surprising to see that there are more females who have been in the list compared to men. May it be heart attacks and being housewives, it's always women who win in this matter and after completing all the house work and looking after their childre, women don't get much tired compared to men who keep complaining about their office workloads. In India, women who live in villages have a very good immunity system as they don't eat the food which city people eat like oily food and spicy food.

An interesting article: http://news.health.com/2014/10/13/why-do-women-live-longer-than-men/

[jayce]

May her soul RIP.

When I read the wiki (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oldest_people) article, it wasn't surprising to see that there are more females who have been in the list compared to men. May it be heart attacks and being housewives, it's always women who win in this matter and after completing all the house work and looking after their childre, women don't get much tired compared to men who keep complaining about their office workloads. In India, women who live in villages have a very good immunity system as they don't eat the food which city people eat like oily food and spicy food.

An interesting article: http://news.health.com/2014/10/13/why-do-women-live-longer-than-men/

I strongly agree with you. I should stop eat fast food again, but for me the main point is not to live longer, but live healthy and happily. If we eat healthy food and living in fresh air area, so we will be health. Live longer is a plus from that. I have ever heard a news about 100yo woman that always drink milk everyday from her cow livestock in her village. She said the best way to keep health is get your fruits and vegetables from your own farm.

[deisik]

I remember one of those super old lady, they asked her what was her secret to live so long, and she said that she was eating 3 eggs per day

after that day i started eating 3 eggs a day as well, now i feel more fuller in the morning

It will work with some people, and will not work with someone else. In the Caucasus region of the former Soviet Union, there was a man called Shirali Muslimov (died in 1973), who claimed that he was 168 years old. Some Russian researchers also confirmed his claim, from the census records. He claimed that yoghurt was the secret for his longeivity. The Danone company made a lot of publicity about it, to sell their yoghurt products.

The matter of longevity in the Caucasus region has been investigated thoroughly. It turned out that people living there tend to add years to their real age, since the older they are, the more respect they get in the society. Regarding that elder who allegedly lived up to 168 years old, you should remember that the Caucasus region had been an arena of ferocious warfare through the whole 19th century (and well into the 20th), so I doubt that there can be reliable sources of census data that old...

[erikalui]

I strongly agree with you. I should stop eat fast food again, but for me the main point is not to live longer, but live healthy and happily. If we eat healthy food and living in fresh air area, so we will be health. Live longer is a plus from that. I have ever heard a news about 100yo woman that always drink milk everyday from her cow livestock in her village. She said the best way to keep health is get your fruits and vegetables from your own farm.

Living a healthy life in today's time is very tough and since we are used to eating the "unhealthy" food, we obtain a carefree nature that "When our time comes, we'll die. Why should we deprive myself of good food." Fruits, vegetables and milk is the best diet we can adopt but if you ask me to eat only boiled food stuffs or fruits everyday, I will not do it as I'm so used to my daily food that I can't give it up even for a healthy and long life. I've heard of women who exercise daily even when they cross 70-80 yrs. That's because they have been doing it all their life and can manage to walk without any support.

[bryant.coleman]

The matter of longevity in the Caucasus region has been investigated thoroughly. It turned out that people living there tend to add years to their real age, since the older they are, the more respect they get in the society. Regarding that elder who allegedly lived up to 168 years old, you should remember that the Caucasus region had been an arena of ferocious warfare through the whole 19th century (and well into the 20th), so I doubt that there can be reliable sources of census data that old...

The case of the 168-year old guy seems to be very unreliable, and your argument might be one of the reasons why so many people from the Caucasus claim that they are super-centenarians. That said, these stories continue to pour in from the region. One of the examples is here:

http://rt.com/news/oldest-man-labazanov-dies-dagestan-902/

And also, the Caucasus republic of Daghestan is having the highest life expectancy in all of Russia, at 75.6 years.

[Bizmark13]

There are only two living people now who were born in the 19th century - both of whom were born in 1899. Just two years ago, that number was six. It's likely that there will be nobody born in the 19th century who is still living in a year or two from now.

Surely it's just a genetic lottery win? Humans certainly aren't designed to live that long and people with perfectly respectable lifestyles drop dead in their 50s and 60s every day.

I am not sure whether the secret for longevity lies in the genes or in the lifestyle. But you can't say that humans aren't designed to live that long. There are references from 400 or 500 year ago, about people living up to 100 year or more. As the living standards increase, along with the advancement in the medical science, longevity will increase further.

There are some physiological limits. Approximated limit of average lifespan is about 250 years. If we solve genetic issues then there still would be another limitation due to nature of our brain. To be exact, there is no possibility to remember more than 4000-5000 years of living experience. You won't die but you'll forget anything what happened before last 4000-5000 years of your hypothetically unlimited life. And there will be no way to recover these memories.

Where did you get that number from? Even with huge advances in medical technology and a significantly larger population, the maximum lifespan of humans seems to have a hard limit of about 120 years - not 250. The oldest people today aren't significantly older than the oldest people who lived 100, 200, or 300 years ago even though far more people are now reaching old age than previously. Jeanne Calment was the only person to live past 120 years and she was definitely an outlier.

The same pattern can be seen with animals too. For example, there are several dogs that have reached 27-29 years of age, but none so far have reached 30.

A cure for all cancers (ignoring the fact that cancer is a collection of diseases with a myriad of causes far too complex to have a single cure) would increase the average lifespan by approximately 10 years. Curing heart disease would probably increase it by another 10 years. But even with the average lifespan at close to 100, I would still expect the oldest humans living in such a world to be no older than 120 years old.

[bryant.coleman]

There are only two living people now who were born in the 19th century - both of whom were born in 1899. Just two years ago, that number was six. It's likely that there will be nobody born in the 19th century who is still living in a year or two from now.

Yup... there are two of them. Susannah Mushatt Jones (b. 6 July 1899) from the United States and Emma Morano (b. 29 November 1899) from Italy. The former will be 116 years old, in two weeks from now.

One interesting fact which I have noticed is that 20 out of the 45 oldest living people (as of now) are from Japan. What is the secret behind their longevity? Organic food? or better medical care?

[deisik]

There are only two living people now who were born in the 19th century - both of whom were born in 1899. Just two years ago, that number was six. It's likely that there will be nobody born in the 19th century who is still living in a year or two from now.

Yup... there are two of them. Susannah Mushatt Jones (b. 6 July 1899) from the United States and Emma Morano (b. 29 November 1899) from Italy. The former will be 116 years old, in two weeks from now.

One interesting fact which I have noticed is that 20 out of the 45 oldest living people (as of now) are from Japan. What is the secret behind their longevity? Organic food? or better medical care?

It is sea food actually that seems to be a main contributing factor here. The primary cause of death in the old age seems to be problems with the cardiovascular system (e.g. arteriosclerosis), which sea food rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids (known as Omega-3 acids) basically eliminates...

[engwell]

It's not easy being the oldest person in the world.

[Bizmark13]

There are only two living people now who were born in the 19th century - both of whom were born in 1899. Just two years ago, that number was six. It's likely that there will be nobody born in the 19th century who is still living in a year or two from now.

Yup... there are two of them. Susannah Mushatt Jones (b. 6 July 1899) from the United States and Emma Morano (b. 29 November 1899) from Italy. The former will be 116 years old, in two weeks from now.

One interesting fact which I have noticed is that 20 out of the 45 oldest living people (as of now) are from Japan. What is the secret behind their longevity? Organic food? or better medical care?

According to this article, it's likely to be a mix of different factors at play - including food and medical care:

http://www.agewatch.org.uk/secrets-of-longevity/japanese-longevity/

Quote from another article which gives pretty much the same reasons as above:

The secret of that longevity is a traditional diet of fish, rice and simmered vegetables, easy access to healthcare and a comparatively high standard of living in old age.

Link: http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/407445/What-is-the-Japanese-secret-of-living-to-100

Also notice how virtually all of those who live past 110 are thin. Japan happens to be the thinnest country in the developed world and calorie restriction (with optimal nutrition) has been proven to extend lifespan across a range of different species so perhaps there is a link somewhere there as well.

Chart showing the percentage of obese people in 34 developed countries:



People with obesity have a much greater risk of developing cancer, cardiovascular disease, stroke, and diabetes which probably affects the average life expectancy quite a bit in countries where obesity is more common. According to this link, Japan has an average BMI of 22.5 while the United States' average is 26-29 (depending on what source you're using). Another study shows that BMI and life expectancy has a very strong correlation.