World's oldest person lived until 117 ate the same thing every day for her entire life
Here’s how the world’s oldest woman Emma Morano managed to make it to the ripe old age of 117.
Born on 29 November 1899 in Italy, Emma would live until 15 April 2017 and became the last living person to be born in the 1800s. As a supercentenarian, she also became the fourth-oldest European ever.
Thanks to advancements in technology and medicine, the average human lifespan is getting longer. However, 117 years is an extremely long time to live, with there being just 12 verified cases of people living to the same age.
So how did she do it? Turns out this was a question Emma was asked a great deal of times and anyone who has ambitions of becoming a supercentenarian should sit down and take notes.
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It turns out that Emma had a relatively simple formula for living so long, follow a strict diet and steer clear of relationships with men.
The long life of Emma Morano
She overcame a lot of hardships in her lengthy life too - including an abusive marriage, the death of her only child, more than 90 different Italian governments and two World Wars.
The former factory worker believed that her decision to stay single after showing her spouse the door has a lot to do with how she made it to such a great age in life.
Emma explained the marriage had hardly ever been a match made in heaven - as she had actually been in love with a man who died during WWI and wasn't too interested in finding anyone else.
She didn't really have a say in the matter when the proposition of getting hitched was put before her, anyway.
In an interview with La Stampa newspaper in 2011, the world's oldest person explained that a lad she knew from her neighbourhood and bluntly asked her the question on a random day.
She said: "He was someone from here, from the lake. I didn't want to marry him, but he forced me. We lived in the same courtyard and one day he sent his mother to call me.
"I went there and he said to me, 'If it suits you, you can marry me, if not I'll kill you'. I was 26 years old. I got married."
Emma finally give the good-for-nothing bloke the boot in 1938, a year after her baby boy and only child passed away at just six months old.
The Italian never married again as she 'didn't want to be dominated by anyone'.
Emma worked until she was 75 and was 'happy with the life' she had led - especially as she wasn't on any medication and was still pretty active during her retirement years.
Despite some of the chaos that erupted in her lifetime, she always remained consistent, thought positively about the future and never strayed from her daily diet, which she credits to keeping her in such good shape.
So, what did the world's oldest person swear by eating everyday?
Eggs. Oh, and supping on a traditional Italian alcoholic beverage, grappa.
She revealed that she ate three eggs - two raw - each day for more than 90 years, a habit she had begun after being diagnosed with anaemia in the wake of WWI.
Emma previously bragged: "I eat three eggs a day and to digest I drink the grappa that I prepare myself: I put it in a jar with seven sage leaves, a bunch of rue grass and some grapes. Then I drink it with a spoon."
She also admitted her genetics might have something to do with reaching 117, as her mother reached 91 and a few of her sisters had reached their 100th birthdays.
In the lead up to her death seven years ago, Emma had cut down to just two eggs a day and a few biscuits, but was doing well having just enlisted the help of a full-time carer just a couple of years previously.
Her doctor of nearly three decades, Carlo Bava, told AFP that his star patient rarely ate vegetables or fruit.
"When I met her, she ate three eggs per day, two raw in the morning and then an omelette at noon, and chicken at dinner," he said.
They don't say 'you can't teach your grandmother to suck eggs' for nothing.
Topics: World News, Food And Drink
Olivia Burke