![\"Maria](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Maria_Branyas_Morera.jpg\")
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Maria Branyas Morera had been verified as the oldest living person when she died last year at age 117.<\/p>\n
Xavier Dengra (Public Domain)<\/p>\n
Maria Branyas Morera lived to the age of 117 with a bit of genetic luck and a healthy diet that included daily yogurts, according to a study published today in Cell Reports Medicine. During her final year \u2014 she died on 19 August 2024 \u2014 she was verified as the oldest living person, a feat that drew the attention of researchers who explore the biology of ageing<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWe wanted to learn from her particular case to benefit other people,\u201d says Manel Esteller, a physician specializing in genetics at the University of Barcelona in Spain.<\/p>\n At the time, Branyas was living in the small town of Olot, in the Catalonia region of Spain, where she enjoyed reading books, playing with dogs and spending time with friends and family, including her two daughters \u2014 both in their 90s. Over several encounters with Branyas and her family, Esteller and his colleagues collected samples of her blood, saliva, urine and stool that provided insights into her unique physiology, including her genetics, metabolism and gut microbiome.<\/p>\n On supporting science journalism<\/p>\n If you’re enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing<\/a>. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.<\/p>\n The supercentenarian was happy to collaborate. \u201cShe was a very humble person,\u201d Esteller recalls. \u201cShe said: \u2018My only merit is that I\u2019m alive\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n The researchers compared Branyas\u2019s genetic, metabolomic and other profiles with those of women of various ages living in the same region. One of the main insights from the work, Esteller says, is that it is possible to distinguish molecular changes that happen in the body because of ageing from those that occur because of poor health.<\/p>\n For instance, the research team learnt that Branyas\u2019s telomeres<\/a> \u2014 the stretches of repetitive DNA that protect the ends of chromosomes \u2014 were exceptionally short. Telomeres naturally shorten with age, and unusually short telomeres have been associated with age-related diseases. But Branyas had no such illnesses. \u201cThis is telling us that the loss of telomeres is not necessarily associated with disease, it\u2019s simply associated with being old,\u201d Esteller says.<\/p>\n Mayana Zatz, a geneticist at the University of S\u00e3o Paulo in Brazil who studies the genetics of healthy centenarians, says the study is thorough but notes that conclusions that are based on a single individual are limited. \u201cIt would be interesting to compare the findings with supercentenarians in other populations,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Winning the genetics lottery<\/p>\n While analysing Branyas\u2019s genome, the authors spotted genetic variants that are known to protect against cardiovascular disease, cognitive loss and diabetes. By contrast, they found no variants associated with increased risk for certain deleterious conditions, including Alzheimer\u2019s disease.<\/p>\n The researchers also looked for genes linked to longevity. \u201cShe had variants in genes that, in other beings like dogs, worms and flies, are associated with extreme lifespan,\u201d Esteller says. \u201cShe was lucky in the genetics lottery.\u201d<\/p>\n But her luck didn\u2019t end there. Branyas aced her bloodwork; she had low levels of \u2018bad\u2019 cholesterol and high levels of \u2018good\u2019 cholesterol, which suggests an efficient lipid metabolism. Her inflammation markers<\/a> were also low and she had a strong immune system \u2014 at the age of 113, she was the oldest person in Spain to have COVID-19 and survive. \u201cSometimes our immune cells get a little bit unloyal and start to attack our own cells, causing inflammation,\u201d Esteller says. \u201cThere was nothing like that.\u201d<\/p>\n Esteller thinks Branyas\u2019s lack of inflammation could be linked to her healthy gut microbiome<\/a>, which resembled that of a much younger person. He points to her high levels of Bifidobacterium, a genus of beneficial bacteria that was probably boosted by her diet, which included three daily servings of yogurt.<\/p>\n Some of her other lifestyle choices that probably contributed to her longevity included eating a Mediterranean diet and exercising regularly. \u201cOur genes are the cards in a poker game,\u201d Esteller says. \u201cBut how we play them is what really matters.\u201d<\/p>\n This article is reproduced with permission and was first published<\/a> on September 24, 2025.<\/p>\n It\u2019s Time to Stand Up for Science<\/p>\n If you enjoyed this article, I\u2019d like to ask for your support. Scientific American has served as an advocate for science and industry for 180 years, and right now may be the most critical moment in that two-century history.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve been a Scientific American subscriber since I was 12 years old, and it helped shape the way I look at the world. SciAm always educates and delights me, and inspires a sense of awe for our vast, beautiful universe. I hope it does that for you, too.<\/p>\n If you subscribe to Scientific American<\/a>, you help ensure that our coverage is centered on meaningful research and discovery; that we have the resources to report on the decisions that threaten labs across the U.S.; and that we support both budding and working scientists at a time when the value of science itself too often goes unrecognized.<\/p>\n In return, you get essential news, captivating podcasts<\/a>, brilliant infographics, can’t-miss newsletters<\/a>, must-watch videos, challenging games<\/a>, and the science world’s best writing and reporting. You can even gift someone a subscription<\/a>.<\/p>\n There has never been a more important time for us to stand up and show why science matters. I hope you\u2019ll support us in that mission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"October 1, 2025 3 min read How the World’s Oldest Woman Lived to 117 Maria Branyas Morera was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":475728,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3846],"tags":[267,70,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-475727","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-genetics","8":"tag-genetics","9":"tag-science","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115321283756028954","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=475727"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475727\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/475728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=475727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=475727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=475727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}