Check out the photos too, they look remarkably young for their ages.

The secret of long life: Sardinia

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2007050151,00.html

THERE is snow on the mountains but 81-year-old Gonaria Deledda is outside in just a housecoat, woolly tights and slippers vigorously scrubbing her stove pipe.

I feel tired out just watching her. But by local standards in this corner of the Mediterranean she’s still a youngster.

Welcome to Silanus, a village on the Italian island of Sardinia, where residents are THREE TIMES more likely to reach their 100th birthday than just about anywhere else in the world.

Sprightly Gonaria looks all set to join them and says: “If I stop working my whole body will stop. Work keeps me going. That, the clean air and plenty of beans and red wine.”

She has spent her life tending her sheep, donkeys and olive trees, often walking more than six miles a day. Her eldest brother lived to 101 but she is the last remaining of her five siblings. Her husband died 11 years ago

ISilanus is at the heart of a region where more than 20 people per 100,000 live to be 100. The UK average is just seven per 100,000.

Entering the village is like stepping back 50 years. The air is crisp, the only sound is the odd battered Fiat whizzing past.

Until recently there were no shops. Today there is a tobacconist, a grocer and four bars. But you won’t find a restaurant or a gym.

At the 2002 census there were 222 centenarians in Sardinia out of a population of just 1.6 million. Antonio Todde — who was the world’s oldest man until his death at 112 in 2002 — lived near Silanus.

Until three years ago the village — population 2,400 — boasted five centenarians and today there are many more people in their late 90s. It intrigues scientists but locals say the reason is simple — hard work, peasant food, optimism and family.

Sardinians are famously tough and said to be so fierce that not even invading Romans could subdue them. Until the 1960s malaria was endemic on the island and it is thought that those who survived are now super-resistant to illness.

Scientists at the island’s University of Sassari say that, over time, inbreeding has created a special genetic trait that 80 per cent of islanders now have.

That genetic difference — known as the M26 marker found in the Y chromosome in the body’s cells — may be another reason for the locals’ long lives.

The university’s Professor Luca Deiana says: “Sardinia is the only place where the mortality rate of men over 85 is less than that of women. We believe there is a strong genetic influence. Stress is low and the diet is based on vegetables, pulses, grains, a small amount of meat and red wine.”

At 85, Pietrino Cappai can still nimbly climb the steep steps to the square. With a toothy grin he says: “I started work on my family’s land when I was six, walking more than eight miles a day.

“I drink a glass of red wine with meals and until a couple of years ago went to my vineyard every day. If my hands were strong enough I’d still go today.”

Next I meet Silanus’s oldest resident, 104-year-old Teresa Morittu, who devoted her life to raising eight children with hubby Tommaso.

She says: “I’ve always eaten plenty of vegetables and pulses. Meat was for special occasions and we only ate pasta on a Sunday.

We worked hard and the air is clear. Here you have a beautiful life. I enjoy life and I hope to go on a lot longer.”

Widowed in 1960, Teresa is now cared for by her daughter, Pasqualina Cappai, 69 — there are no nursing homes here.

The first time she went to hospital was at 70 with kidney stones. At 102 she fell and broke her leg but, after three days in hospital, she demanded to be taken home.

Pasqualina recalls: “Although she had to rest we could barely keep her in bed. And her eyesight is better than mine.”

Finally Mayor Luigi Morittu, 51, explains the village’s fame: “We grow the best olive oil in Sardinia, our wines are packed with goodness and our diet is based around sheep, not cows, so it is lower in cholesterol.

“The head of every family had land to produce everything and it was all organic. We were poor but the essentials of life were available and we didn’t need more.”

Luigi blames the arrival of an industrial area at nearby Ottana in the 1960s for a decline in this age-old culture. But the situation is reversing and he hopes the area’s secret will continue for his twin sons Giordano and Enrico, five.

He says: “We are returning to our origins. This is the land of the old and now we are looking back to the mountains for our children.”

Before leaving, I stop at Bar Centrale for a glass of fabled local red wine and a last breath of mountain air. I hope some of the magic has rubbed off on me.

This from ABC news, more specific on what these people have to allow them to live so long

Medical Mystery: Genetic Secret to a Long Life?

Jan. 30, 2007 — In the foothills of the Italian Alps is a tiny village that may hold a clue to a medical mystery that has challenged researchers for centuries. Despite indulging in an artery-clogging diet that could make even an Italian grandmother cringe, the 400 or so residents of tiny Stoccareddo, Italy, have virtually no heart disease or diabetes, and often live into their 90s.

While at first glance nothing seems to be unusual about the town, a closer look reveals almost everyone is related and shares the same last name of Bau (pronounced Bow-ooh). According to Amerigo Bau, the unofficial town historian, the first Bau family arrived in Stoccareddo from Denmark about 800 years ago and ever since, Baus have been marrying Baus.

"It happened because the twon was in the mountains," explains Amerigo Bau. "It was isolated, and so the likelihood of marrying another Bau was quite strong."

Most Baus tended to marry more distant relatives and not first cousins, which can cause genetic defects.

An Unusual Claim to Fame

Recently, the claim to fame for the residents of Stoccareddo has come to rest with their mysterious good health. Dr. Uros Hladnik, a genetic researcher at the Baschirotto Institute for Rare Diseases (B.I.R.D Foundation) in Vincenza, Italy is studying why the Baus of Stoccareddo seem to be able to eat fatty meats, cheeses and cream sauces without suffering the most serious consequences.

Preliminary results have found cholesterol levels of LDL — the so-called "bad" cholesterol — that are much lower than those of most Italians, and HDL levels — the so-called "good" cholesterol — that are much higher.

"They seem to be protected," Hladnik said. "Maybe the Baus have something that allows them to eat cholesterol."

But their good health may ultimately have less to do with their genetic code and more to do with their zip code. The air and water in Stoccaredoo are clean, and even today the town is still relatively isolated from many of the pressures and stresses of the outside world.

"Apart from the research that's going on, we believe that we have two genes that contribute to a better life: the good air that we breathe and the happiness that you breathe in the town," Amerigo Bau said.

not all the Baus have remained in Stoccareddo. It's estimated there ten thousand worldwode, including the family of Ron and Jerry Bau, whose grandfather settled in the hills surrounding Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania near the turn of the century. Unlike their Italian relatives, they have not been marrying within their surname.

But the Pennsylvania Baus may eventually have their DNA tested and compared with their Italian kin, whose mysterious good health has got them thinking.

"I definitely have some hope that it will offer protection for our family, but even perhaps more importantly is somewhere down the line this genetic research might lead to something that would help all humanity," said Ron Bau, a hope shared by his brother Jerry.

But, until the research is completed, the Stoccareddo Baus' unlikely good health remains a medical mystery.

fresh air, clean water, low-carb/high-fat diet, low LDL cholesterol, and marrying your 4th cousin? or did i miss something that mentioned more about why their genetic makeup keeps them alive?

the bit about them being super-resistant to malaria is fascinating.

Lamb and beef have about the same amount of cholesterol, depending on the source, of course. Some claim slightly MORE cholesterol for lamb.

I wonder how many centenarians have spent hours in front of the computer trying to figure out how to live longer?

I'll bet the vast majority have never even touched a computer. Maybe that was the secret and Matt is screwed.

Well...considering that 85+ percent of centenarians are female, I'd say that the odds are already somewhat stacked against him....

Anyone notice that long-lived peoples tend to live on or near mountains? Use the stairs.