Surrounded by relatives and neighbours, Italy’s Emma Morano greeted with a smile the news that she, at 116, is now the oldest person in the world.
Morano is now believed to be the last surviving person in the world born in the 1800s, with a birthdate of Nov. 29, 1899.
That’s just four and a half months after Susannah Mushatt Jones, the previous record-holder who died Thursday in New York, also at 116.
Journalists on Friday descended on Morano’s home in Verbania, a northern Italian mountain town overlooking Lake Major, to document her achievement, but had to wait until she finished a nap to greet her.
Morano lives in a neat one-room apartment, which she no longer leaves, and is kept company by a caregiver and two elderly nieces.
The supercentenarian told The Associated Press last year that she attributed her longevity to her unusual diet: raw eggs every day.
Morano has apparently been on a steady diet of eggs for decades, after a sickly childhood.
On Thursday she told the Associated Press that she ate meat, pudding, and a raw egg for breakfast - seemingly in keeping with her regimen.
She earlier said she would eat two raw eggs a day and 150 grammes of raw steak after she suffered a bout of anaemia.
Her physician, Dr. Carlo Bava, is convinced there’s a genetic component to Morano’s longevity along with her positive attitude.
Bava told the AP on Thursday that a number of Morano’s siblings had also lived past or close to 100 years.
Italy is known for its centenarians — many of whom live on the Mediterranean island of Sardinia — and gerontologists at the University of Milan are studying Morano, along with a handful of Italians over 105, to find out what contributes to their long lives.
(Inputs from AP)
Video: AP
Music: Big Bang Fuzz
