A 117-year-old woman could hold the secret to long life

Maria Branyas Morera aptly said when close to death life has more meaning.

The world’s oldest woman who survived Covid-19 has celebrated her 117th birthday and scientists hope to uncover the secrets of her old age.

Maria Branyas Morera lives in Girona, Spain, and celebrated the impressive milestone on Monday.

She said: ‘When close to death, life has more meaning’.

Surviving two world wars, multiple dictators, and coronavirus aged 113, Maria has conquered it all – and now has 11 grandchildren.

Last year she explained the lifestyle reasons behind her old age and said: ‘Order, tranquility, good connection with family and friends, contact with nature, emotional stability, no worries, no regrets, lots of positivity and staying away from toxic people.’

There is also a genetic reason because many of her family members are over the age of 90.

Since January 2023 she holds the Guinness World Record for being the oldest person on the planet.

Maria told the world via X: ‘Good morning, world. Today I turn 117 years old. I have come this far.’

She included a quote from Pere Casaldaliga, a Spanish-born Brazilian Catholic which says: ‘Old age is a kind of sacrament. You lose hearing, but you feel more because you listen to life, not noises… In the light of death, life takes on a specific, more definitive weight.’

The care home where Maria spent her birthday said: ‘She is very grateful for the congratulations received and the interest that so many people have shown in her state of health.

‘She is happy to be able to celebrate this special day with her family and colleagues in privacy and wishes everyone a happy Monday.’

Many countries across the world have high lifespans, particularly around Asia, and this is often down to education, income, social factors and healthcare systems.

Maria has agreed to take part in scientific testing so researchers can discover the secrets to her long life.

They have taken samples of her saliva, blood and urine and will compare this to her 80-year-old daughter.

Maria’s miraculous health has baffled many and scientist Manel Esteller told ABC: ‘She has a completely lucid head.

‘She remembers with impressive clarity events from when she was only four years old, and she does not present any cardiovascular disease, common in elderly people.

‘It is clear that there is a genetic component because there are several members of her family who are over 90 years old.’

Maria was born in San Francisco in 1907 to an expatriate Catalan family, but later relocated to Barcelona with her mum and sister, after her dad died from tuberculosis.

During the Spanish civil war, she worked as a nurse alongside her doctor husband Joan Moret, with whom she had three children.

Since 2000, she has lived in a nursing home in Catalonia and in March 2020 became the oldest person in the world to survive Covid-19.

Maria has stiff competition from another woman who claims to be the oldest person in the world and who says she’s just celebrated her 119th birthday.

Trinh Thi Khong lives in Vietnam and she has birth documents that show she was born in 1905.

Efforts are underway from her family to get her recognised as the world’s oldest person because she is two years older than Maria.

Khong is so old that her son is now in his 90s and the family has 150 descendants including great-grandchildren.

She even got her own certificate from authorities in 2023 to recognise her grand old age when she reached 118.

Her old age is not down to a healthy diet because her family describe her as ‘normally unhealthy’.

During her earlier years she used to work as a vendor to help support children and said she enjoys reminiscing about those days.

The only person to have ever lived and reached past the age of 120 is French citizen Jeanne Calment, who lived for 122 years and 164 days before her death in 1997.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.