Maria Branyas Morera, who was the oldest living person in the world before her death last August, attributed her longevity of happiness and good genetics. And science gives her the truth. The research of her microbiome and DNA, which scientists started before her death, shows that her cells behaved as seventeen years younger than her real age.
Maria had a microbiome – a set of bacteria in the digestive tract – similar to the one that the newborns have. Research was led by Professor of Genetics Manel Esteller from the University of Barcelona, a leading aging expert.
The first report on the results of the study was brought by the Catalan daily ARA, which described the genetic profile Branyas as privileged. The Esteller team found that she had kept his clear mind until the last moment. The health problems she had encountered at her advanced age were mainly limited to joint pain and hearing loss.
A study on Branyas is the most comprehensive research of supercentenarians – people who have lived 110 years or more. It offers a possible explanation of why some people have lived for so long. Esteller and his colleagues believe that the study can provide valuable knowledge for the development of drugs and therapies focused on aging diseases. According to them, the results of genetic research question the idea that aging and disease must necessarily go hand in hand.
Maria Branyas Morera was born on March 4, 1907 in San Francisco, where her parents moved from Spain and Mexico. She spent part of her childhood in Texas and New Orleans, but in 1915 her family returned to Spain and settled in Catalonia. During her life she survived the Spanish Civil War, the Second World War, the Spanish flu pandemic and the Covid-19 pandemic.
In 2020 it was infected with coronavirus, Spain was one of the most affected countries. Although vaccination was not yet available at the time, her disease was without symptoms and soon recovered. In January 2023, the Guinness Book of Records officially recognized her by the oldest living person in the world after the French nun Lucile Randon died 118 years old.
She had her own idea of the longevity recipe. “Order, peace, good relationships with family and friends, contact with nature, emotional stability, no worries, no remorse, a lot of positivity and avoiding toxic people. Longevity is also a matter of happiness. Happiness and good genetics”Said Branyas Morera.
