LONGECITY

Woman believed 128 dies in El Salvador
SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador - Salvadorans buried the country's oldest known living person on Friday: Cruz Hernandez, who was 128 years old according to the government. Hernandez was born May 3, 1878, according to her government-issued identity card.


Community members said she worked as a midwife for years until she turned 100, and was beloved by all in the city of San Agustin, about 60 miles east of the capital of San Salvador.

Hernandez did not have a birth certificate, but the government confirmed her age in 2005 after an investigation. If her age was accurate, Hernandez would have been the oldest living woman in the world — perhaps ever.

According to the Gerontology Research Group at the UCLA School of Medicine, which documents people over 100, the longest-living person ever was Jeanne Calment, a French woman who was 122 years old when she died in 1997.

On its Web site the group lists the world's oldest living person as Yone Minagawa, of Japan, who turned 114 on Jan. 4.

Hernandez is survived by more than 200 relatives, including children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren.

Nearly 100 people, mostly family, attended the funeral services.

(edited by Matthias: name added to the title)
Edited by Matthias, 20 May 2008 - 01:19 PM.

On its Web site the group lists the world's oldest living person as Yone Minagawa, of Japan, who turned 114 on Jan. 4.

Unfortunately, the a birth certificate is one thing that is considered hard evidence for longevity records. Without it, Cruz Hernandez probably will not officially be listed as the longest lived person in the world.

For 50 bucks I could get the government of El Salvador to confirm my age of 128.

For 50 bucks I could get the government of El Salvador to confirm my age of 128.

and have enough left over for a feed of tamales

And, of course, we have here yet another dirt-poor supercentenarian.

The more I read about gerontology the less interested I become in the record breakers. Unless a supercentenarian's biological health were that of a 60 year old, he or she is simply statistical anomaly clinging to life by a thread. I think what would be more interesting would be finding a 70 year old that has the metabolic health (or even specific organ or immune system) of that of a 25 year old and they doing microarray expression and metablomic studies on that individual.

I just had an unexpected thought: Maybe this woman ingested stem cells from the afterbirths of all the babies she delivered.

I just had an unexpected thought: Maybe this woman ingested stem cells from the afterbirths of all the babies she delivered.

gross..

The more I read about gerontology the less interested I become in the record breakers.  Unless a supercentenarian's biological health were that of a 60 year old, he or she is simply statistical anomaly clinging to life by a thread.  I think what would be more interesting would be finding a 70 year old that has the metabolic health (or even specific organ or immune system) of that of a 25 year old and they doing microarray expression and metablomic studies on that individual.

Yeah, I definitely agree with that statement as well.

I think what would be more interesting would be finding a 70 year old that has the metabolic health (or even specific organ or immune system) of that of a 25 year old and they doing microarray expression and metablomic studies on that individual.

The closest I can think of would be one of the original health freaks, Paul Bragg, who died a little while after being hit by a boat when he was out surfing, in his late 90s. Part of his routine was to fast one day per week, in addition to less frequent longer fasts.

Faking old people is a cottage industry in some areas. In siberia, they claimed to have a whole village with super centenarians a while back. They had photos of a supposed family with about 8 generations lined up. It looked kind of convincing but later follow ups with the people in the photos found that they admitted they were not the ages given and several of them weren't even related. It is not at all unusual for governments to verify the ages based on shaky documentation or no documentation at all. It is after all, a feather in the cap to have long lived citizens. It leads to increased tourism and the sale of folk remedies.

Anyone remember Jack Lalane? He is a fitness nut who used to advertise in magazines and so on for his training courses. He now does fitness workshops all over the country. He is 92 and does 2 hours of exercise every day. He could probably work me into the ground if I tried to keep up with him. That''s who I want to be like, not some faker claiming to be 128 or whatnot.

Anyone remember Jack Lalane? He is a fitness nut who used to advertise in magazines and so on for his training courses. He now does fitness workshops all over the country. He is 92 and does 2 hours of exercise every day. He could probably work me into the ground if I tried to keep up with him. That''s who I want to be like, not some faker claiming to be 128 or whatnot.

My favorite was Jack's teacher, Paul Bragg, who died after being hit by a boat when he was out surfing in his late 90s.

Sooo, what about the Hunzas? They are/were known to live to be at least 150 years old, in my reading of them.

B

people that'll reach 150 years old probably haven't been born yet

people that'll reach 150 years old probably haven't been born yet

I don't agree on that.

people that'll reach 150 years old probably haven't been born yet