The oldest living person in the world died recently on Nov 26 2008. Edna Parker lived to the ripe old age of 115 and was known as a super centarian meaning anyone over 110. Born April 20th 1893, she became America's oldest person on Feb 14 2007 and became the world's oldest on Aug 13 2007. She never drank, never tried smoking and was leading an active life.

According to wikipedia, the oldest living person is now Gertrude Baines of the USA, who was born on 6 April 1894. She is the only verified surviving person born in 1894. Other than not liking the cold due to arthritis, Ms Baines is in reasonably good health for her age. The oldest living man is 113 year-old Tomoji Tanabe of Japan, born on 18 September 1895.

Overall the longest documented lifespan goes to Jeanne Calment of France (1875–1997), who died at age 122 years and 164 days. Its said a supercentenarian is someone who has reached the age of 110 years, something achieved by only one in a thousand centenarians (based on European data). Furthermore, only 1 in 50 supercentenarians live to be 115.

Only 2% of verified supercentenarians have lived to celebrate their 115th birthday. Just 0.7% of verified supercentenarians have celebrated their 116th birthday, and 0.4% of verified supercentenarians have celebrated their 117th birthday. So Gertrude Baines at 115 is now a very special person indeed.

Overall there are 3 main tips to becoming a super centarian.

1. Lead an active life. Achieving an active lifestyle is the number one tip.
2. Avoid stress. Studies show that stressful people have generally shorter life spans than those apparently who enjoy life and whatever it brings.
3. Caloric restriction. Okinawa, Japan has the highest density of centenarians in the world. The Okinawan diet is 20 percent lower in calories than the Japanese average; contains 300 percent of the green/yellow vegetables; is low in fat; and has only 25 percent of the sugar and 75 percent of the grains of the average Japanese dietary intake. A bit of fish and almost no meat, eggs, or dairy products are consumed.

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