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How to live to 117? Researchers find clues in the world’s oldest woman.

Maria Branyas Morera’s life was simple. She enjoyed yogurt, gardening, sleep, books, walks, friends, playing the piano and dogs.

But her life span was remarkable — and also inscrutable. When she died last year, aged 117 and still in relatively good health, she was the oldest person on Earth. But how? What was there about a quiet mother in Catalonia, Spain, that made this extreme longevity possible?

A new study published recently in Cell Reports Medicine provides some intriguing clues. In one of the most thorough examinations yet of a supercentenarian (someone who lives to be at least 110), the authors closely investigated Morera’s genes, immune system, cell function, cell age, microbiome, diet, disease biomarkers and other facets of her lifestyle and physiology — with her cooperation — and compared them with those of other people, both young and old.

Maria Branyas Morera in 2023. Courtesy of Manel Esteller MD PhD/University of Barcelona/Josep Carreras Institute

The study’s findings suggest that Morera “won the genetics lottery,” said Manel Esteller, the chairman of genetics at the University of Barcelona School of Medicine and senior author of the study. Her genome included a wide array of genetic variants previously linked to long life span, but also some that, until now, hadn’t been known to contribute to longevity.

But her genetics “don’t explain everything,” Esteller continued. Other aspects of her physiology, especially the workings of her immune system and the makeup of her gut, seem likewise to have played a role in her life span. They may also yield useful lessons for any of the rest of us with aspirations of becoming supercentenarians.

Why Morera is unique

Maria Morera was born in San Francisco on March 4, 1907, then moved to the Catalonia region of Spain with her family when she was 8, staying there for the rest of her life.

Esteller, whose lab researches cancer, as well as genetics, heard about Morera a few years ago, when she was already a supercentenarian. “They are so rare,” he said, “and to have one close to us, we felt we should learn all we could about her.”

Interest in the physiology of the very old, especially super-agers who remain relatively healthy, isn’t new. Researchers with the Longevity Genes Project at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx have been studying the genetics of centenarians since 1998.

Maria Branyas Morera in 2008. Courtesy of Manel Esteller MD PhD/University of Barcelona/Josep Carreras Institute)

But even by the standards of super-aging, Morera was special. Life expectancy for women in Catalonia is 86 years, Esteller said. (In the United States, it’s about 81 years for women and 76 years for men.) Morera outlived that standard by more than 35 years.

“We wanted to understand what made her unique,” Esteller said.

So, with Morera’s permission and help, he and his colleagues visited her several times when she was 116, gathering samples of her blood, urine, saliva and stool, along with extensive information about her lifestyle and health.

Then, using a variety of techniques to catalog and characterize as many of the genes and molecules in Morera’s tissues as possible, they began analyzing.

How her genetics played a role

“Genetics is certainly a big part” of how we age, Esteller said. And on that count, Morera lucked out. Her cells carried most of the gene variants that past research had found in other long-lived people, including variants that play a role in DNA repair, as well as in the body’s ability to clear away dead or malfunctioning cells, control inflammation and create robust mitochondria, the energy powerhouses inside cells. Her genome also contained seven other variants, Esteller and his colleagues found, that hadn’t been identified in the very elderly before, and which he suspects played a substantial role in her longevity.

Just as important, she didn’t carry any gene variants known to increase risks for cancer, Alzheimer’s, diabetes or most other major chronic illnesses, and never developed any of those conditions. (Her primary physical complaint was arthritis.)

If genes alone explained her life span, though, her family tree probably would have been filled with supercentenarians, Esteller felt, and none of her close relatives lived nearly that long.

An ‘efficient’ immune system

So he and his colleagues next looked at her immune system, which turned out to be unusually sturdy. She had a large reservoir of certain white blood cells, known as T cells, that carry a “memory” of past threats, such as infections and cancer. Examining those cells told the researchers that “she had experienced many infections” over her life, Esteller said. She was, for instance, the oldest person in Spain to have had COVID-19.

The numbers and functions of these T cells often decline in the elderly, but hers remained “very active,” Esteller and his colleagues found. But not so active that they attacked healthy tissue, causing autoimmunity, which can often occur as people age. Instead, her immune system was fine-tuned and “efficient,” Esteller said.

Why? The scientists aren’t certain, but believe her genetics are involved. They also point to her microbiome. “It was very good,” Esteller said. In fact, her gut teemed with bacteria known to produce substances that may help reduce inflammation throughout the body, bolstering the immune system and overall health.

It’s important to point out that Morera’s physiology was hardly perfect, Esteller said. She looked old. Her joints ached, and she had signs of incipient disease, including high levels of the protein amyloid in her bloodstream, which might be a marker of future dementia, as well as issues with abnormal blood cells, which could indicate a risk for blood cancers. But she didn’t have those diseases at the time of her death.

Lessons on diet and lifestyle

What role did her diet and lifestyle play in all of this? A large one, Esteller and his colleagues believe. “In the last 10 years of her life, she ate three plain yogurts a day,” he said, and otherwise followed a typical Mediterranean diet. “She ate very lightly,” he said, “a lot of fish and olive oil and fruit.” She also walked often and gardened until the final years of her life, he said. The interplay of her lifestyle and genetics probably helped her maintain healthy cholesterol and blood-sugar levels, he said, ensuring her blood chemistry at 116 looked like that of someone decades younger.

In fact, when the scientists used available tests to check her “biological age,” which is how old or young our bodies seem to be, based on how well they function, it was 23 years younger than her chronological age.

Can the rest of us learn how to improve our own chances of a long, healthy life from Morera’s life and biology? Sure, Esteller said, although he doesn’t advocate a three-yogurts-a-day diet. “Maybe try one,” he said, along with regular physical activity and social interaction. Morera mingled with other residents in her assisted-living facility when she could and welcomed visitors.

Maria Branyas Morera, 1925. Courtesy of Manel Esteller MD PhD/University of Barcelona/Josep Carreras Institute)

More study is needed

This study has limitations. In particular, Morera is “a single person,” said Nir Barzilai, a professor of medicine and genetics at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and founder of the Longevity Genes Project. “We need many, many more examples” of long-lived people, especially supercentenarians before drawing any conclusions about the underpinnings of their longevity.

Still, he’s hopeful that studies such as this one and the ongoing Longevity Genes Project will lead to new insights into aging and potential lessons about the healthiest lifestyle choices for longevity, as well as possible drugs or other interventions that might help people age better.

As for Esteller, the main message he and his colleagues gleaned from studying Morera was that “aging and illness are separable,” he said. She grew old. She did not grow seriously ill. Perhaps she would have, eventually, he said. But something inside of her pushed that eventuality further and further out, until, on Aug. 19, 2024, aged 117 and still mentally and physically well, she peacefully died in her sleep.