Category Archives: Longevity

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The last couple of years has seen the rise of a new game style based on decentralized technology and offering digital rewards with real-world value. Blockchain-powered Play-to-Earn (P2E) gaming has begun to draw some attention, but there is a catch.

Too many of the current offerings have unsustainable economies and uninspired gameplay experiences. This has put up a wall that excludes many traditional gamers who arent interested in earning more than gameplay.

It doesnt have to stay this way, though. New gaming platforms emerge that take necessary new steps to balance their economies while also delivering complex and exciting entertainment.

The rise of P2E gaming has split the gaming community into two camps. On the one hand, you have more traditional gamers who want rich, immersive, and innovative experiences.

On the other, you have those motivated to play by the chance to earn actual income. Usually, the former comes from more affluent parts of the world, where the average gamer sees the endeavor as pure entertainment.

The latter tends to come from more impoverished areas and see an opportunity and a chance to earn an income that often transcends the local average for jobs and is certainly easier.

While those interested in earnings dont seem to mind if a gameplay experience isnt enjoyable, those who play for entertainment often see the integration of monetary elements into their games as intrusive and abrasive.

Just look at the intense pushback that has occurred around things like microtransactions and loot boxes. Not to mention that, on average, gamers seem to be entirely opposed to NFTs as well.

This has created a divide that has held virtually all P2E and blockchain games from breaching mainstream audiences. By limiting appeal, these platforms restrict themselves to only financially motivated users.

This then creates another problem. These users, by definition, act as value extractors of the overall ecosystem. They consistently move their earnings off-platform instead of reinvesting them.

While it is their right to do so, and an open ecosystem should allow for this, it still means that the overall system is unsustainable long term. A thriving economy cant consist solely of those who seek to move value out of it.

To bridge these separate game worlds and bring new users and liquidity to these games, developers need to reimagine both their economics and their gameplay.

For one, there need to be some types of incentives within the experience for users to recirculate at least some of their earnings back into the game. What this looks like could vary, but a system that offers compounded rewards for long-term engagement needs to be implemented to encourage a thriving economy.

Then theres the actual end-user experience. Presumably, financially motivated players wouldnt mind games that are truly fun to play, and it may even encourage more of that mindset to get involved.

However, more importantly, if developers create titles that compete with their non-blockchain predecessors, then both casual and hardcore gamers will begin to come into the P2E space. This will bring in support that wont simply jump ship if the in-game earnings become less profitable and hence should act as a stabilization element on the in-game market.

The point is, gamers demand thoughtful products that entertain and challenge. For most of them, being able to earn a bit of money isnt a motivation to pick up a title.

If they do show up for the gameplay, they may be pleasantly surprised to find they can earn a bit of money along the way. In this way, almost all types of users can find value in a title that blends smart economics with a genuinely engaging experience.

Michael Rubinelli, Chief Gaming Officer at WAX Studios, is a technology & gaming leader with 15+ years progressive experience in executive leadership, product development, and continual revenue growth and is renowned for his success at top corporations (including Disney, THQ, Electronic Arts). Michael has now turned his attention to Play-to-Earn games and spends most of his time expanding the Gaming Division of WAX Blockchain.

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Op-Ed: Bringing interest and longevity to play-to-earn gaming - CryptoSlate

Concept of a healthy female reproductive system.

The field of female reproductive longevity and inequality is getting more and more attention. In fact, it is one of the hottest areas of the emerging longevity biotechnology industry, and every venture firm in the field is either investing, incubating, or looking for projects in this area. Companies like BOLD Capital, Future Ventures, LongeVC, and iconic biotechnology investors including Bob Nelsen and Christian Angermayer, are all active and significant partners in this area of science. While females generally live longer than men, their reproductive period is limitedsomething that is often overlooked. A females peak reproductive years are between the late teens and late 20s. Fertility starts to decline by age 30, and this decline becomes more rapid once women reach the mid-30s. By 45, fertility declines so much that getting pregnant naturally is unlikely for most women. Likewise, women begin life with a fixed number of eggs in their ovaries, usually around one million. This number decreases as women age. Ovaries age faster than the rest of a womans bodyan understudied phenomenon of a neglected organ. None of us would be here without them. Yet surprisingly little is known about the avocado-shaped organ thats nestled inside half of all humans.

Functional decline in female fertility with age

The ovaries also influence a womans overall health and well-being. This includes how they age, since this organ tends to lose its function with age faster than any other tissue. This is called asynchronous aging, and its one reason why a womans fertility declines, and menopause strikes, while they are still relatively young.

In one of my previous articles, I wrote about Gameto, a biotechnology company that is translating the impact of ovarian aging to develop solutions to improve fertility and stop the impact of menopause on female health. Gametos co-founder and CEO Dina Radenkovic told me about her intention to redefine the narrative around female reproductive longevity and making it more around health and longevity. Gameto is building a platform for ovarian therapeutics to address menopause and improve assisted fertility. Dina told me she hopes it will make women suffer fewer health problems in their later lives. Neglecting the ovariesexcept for their crucial role in IVF treatmentshas been part of a general disregard for many aspects of womens health in the biomedical world.

What surprises me is this: If overall life expectancy is increasing, and it has consistently over the past decade, then shouldnt there be more focus on extending female reproductive life too? Without extending female reproductive life, we are worsening gender inequality in society.

Just two years ago, Nature published a major study out of Stanford University on the variability in rates of cellular aging in 17 major organs. These included the heart, kidney, and spleenbut not the ovaries, despite it being #1 among organs that rapidly age and are known to influence cellular aging in the rest of the body upon their decline.

Luckily, tides are turning, and female reproductive longevity and inequality are rapidly turning into the hottest research areas in longevity science and investment themes in longevity venture capital.

The official headshot of Maryanna Sayenko, co-founder of Future Ventures

I think womens reproductive longevity is becoming an interesting investment sector because its at the nexus of several important trends. Research in this space is finally getting the recognition and influx of talent that it so desperately needs, thanks in large part to efforts of people like Jennifer Garrison who have been championing the needs of the field. Second, investors are recognizing that addressing longevity without attending to womens reproductive longevity is a laughably incomplete picture. Finally, in the last few years incredible entrepreneurs are taking the risk and entering the space with scientifically credible companies, says Maryanna Saenko, a celebrity venture capitalist who co-pilots Future Ventures together with Steve Jurvetson. Saenko and Jurvetson recently backed Gameto and Cambrian Biosciences.

Dr. Daisy Robinton, scientist, model, entrepreneur, founder and CEO of Oviva Therapeutics

In 2020, molecular biologist Daisy Robinton, while working with a biotechnology company to help develop a potential treatment for COVID-19, was told by male colleagues on a Zoom call to consider excluding female mice from testing to avoid unpredictable noise that they believe can obfuscate clear conclusions. Daisya 35 year-old Harvard PhD who is fast becoming a Millennial firebrand on the topic of womens health in TEDx and other talkskept her cool so as not to be labeled difficult, something that women in scienceor any disciplinehave to always be aware of, she said. Taking a deep breath on the Zoom call, she suggested as calmly as possible that including female physiology is critical to developing any therapeutic to be used for a general population.

Dr. James Peyer, founder and CEO, Cambrian Biopharma

In the Spring of 2020 Daisy joined Cambrian Biopharma, which is developing therapeutics to combat the diseases of aging like cancer, heart disease, and Alzheimers disease. She convinced Cambrian co-founder and CEO James Peyer, a biologist and former venture capitalist, to add the aging of ovaries to his companys roster. This led a few months later to the formation of a new company under the Cambrian umbrella co-founded by Daisy called Oviva Therapeutics, powered by $11.5 million in seed fundinga big number for a just-hatched company.

The focus of Daisys company emerged out of her concern and curiosity about her own fertility. In 2018, at age 31, she began to wonder about her own prospects for having children in the futuresince kids now seemed a ways offshe began a deep-dive into issues of fertility. This included what was known, and not known, about the ovaries. I discovered that the ovaries are the first organ that really goes kaput, she said, leading to an accelerated decline in health for womenaffecting bone density, cardiovascular health, sexual function, metabolism, and on and on.

Overall, she noted, cellular aging accelerates an average of six percent after women reach menopause, typically beginning at age 52. And yet we have not put a lot of funding or effort into studying and understanding what this means for our health or how to create solutions to improve the negative consequences, she said.

Teaming up with Harvard molecular biologist and reproductive biology expert David Ppin, Daisy learned that a hormone produced by the ovaries called Anti-Mullerian Hormone (AMH) might be used to extend the functional life of the ovaries. Normally, AMH is used in IVF to measure the fertility of a patient. Ppin was experimenting with it to see if it would slow the progression of ovarian cancer.

Thats when he noticed that flooding ovaries with AMH also suppresses a process known as folliculogenesis. This is a process where some of the immatureor primordial folliclesare recruited for maturation, explained Daisy. Each month of an adult womans reproductive cycle, a group of roughly 1,000 follicles will mature, ultimately leading to ovulation of a single egg from just one follicle, the dominant follicle. The remaining follicles then die and wither away. This process eventually leads to a depletion of most of a womans follicles and the subsequent triggering of menopause. Using AMH to limit folliculogenesis preserves the possibility in the future that the follicles which women are born with and slowly lose over time do not get fully depleted, said Daisy.

We stumbled on this accidently, said Ppin. The result astonished us. When we added AMH, almost all of the immature follicles stopped growing, meaning the ovulation process largely froze in place, thus preserving the ovaries ability to produce mature eggs at a later date.

Harvard pediatric surgeon Patricia Donohoe, one of the great pioneers of reproductive medicine, also has worked closely with Ppin and is a co-founder and key advisor to Oviva and to Daisy. Ppin and Donoahoe developed a bio-engineered version of the naturally occurring AMH hormone. Pre-clinical data indicate that this bio-engineered AMH can protect the immature follicles during chemotherapy treatment, and potentially be used to improve IVF protocols by increasing the yield of viable eggs by 2-3x, a huge deal for women over the age 35.

The bioengineered form of AMH remains experimental, with the company running pre-clinical trials in mice and non-human primates. It is possible this will not succeed, said Daisy, most drug candidates dont, even those that reach human clinical trials. If this happens, she added, Oviva is poised to pivot to develop alternative treatments that would extend ovarian function and ultimately female healthspan.

Im excited about getting support and funding for studying the ovaries, said Daisy. Its a watershed moment in the history of womens health. She also welcomes others to join in.

To understand this field a bit better, I recently chatted about this topic with Daisy.

1. Female reproductive longevity and inequality seem to be a very hot topic. Why now? In your opinion, what triggered this sudden interest from the VCs?

Dr. Daisy Robinton, founder and CEO, Oviva Therapeutics

There has been a growing wave of interest in womens health over the last few years. In some ways COVID highlighted this in a somewhat backwards way. Early on there were statistics suggesting that more men were dying from COVID19 infection than women. This spurred an influx of funding to study female physiology to better understand why and potentially leverage these mechanisms to help men. Because we have historically overlooked females in biomedical research and clinical development, there is so much we dont know.

I think women are being more vocal about their needs, and an increase of women in power or positions of authority to help drive this change. And - there has also been a growing recognition that women have a lot of economic power behind them and the market for womens health is huge. Menopause alone has a market size of 14.7 billion and is growing. The US fertility market alone is $8 billion. And this doesnt even touch the various indications women suffer from that have little to no resources - things that I know patients would pay an arm and a leg to feel better from (endometriosis, PCOS, etc).

And then theres Roe v Wade, which of course is more immediate but brings into stark urgency the threat to womens health, reproductive freedoms and agency. This is a flashpoint and I am both furious and passionate about helping drive change so that females have more opportunities to live healthy, vibrant, resilient lives, so that we can feel and experience agency throughout our lives no matter our age.

2. Can you shine some light on how Oviva approaches the ovarian longevity challenge?

Our fundamental hypothesis is that ovarian function is inherently linked to healthspan, and by preserving or extending ovarian function we will also extend healthspan. Our first hypothesis that we are working on to address this is that through protecting or preserving the ovarian reserve - and therefore not depleting the ovarian reserve which ultimately triggers menopause and ovarian decline will prevent the ovaries from declining in function. Without the signal from a depleted ovarian reserve to shut down, the ovaries will believe that they should keep working rather than senescing and triggering menopause. The AMH/AMHR2 axis is the earliest known point where we can influence this AMH works by preventing immature (or primordial) follicles, each housing a single egg, from leaving the ovarian reserve. By leveraging this mechanism we aim to prevent the attrition of eggs (and primordial follicles) and thus preserve the ovarian reserve.

3. You share some investors with Gameto, can you please expand on how you are different?

Cambrian is our sole investor we are approaching this goal through the lens of longevity and with the hypothesis that extending ovarian function will significantly impact female health. Additionally, we are developing a candidate targeting the AMH/AMR2 axis which has yet to have any clinical development around it to date and are taking a very focused approach to this. The mechanism is fundamentally different from what Gameto is doing (cellular reprogramming), though the goals are similar. Frankly I think this is actually very important - ultimately what will serve women and patients best is having options to choose from. Much like birth control, different people will want or need distinct methodologies/therapeutics to support their health, so I am thrilled that we have a growing field working towards this goal of ovarian longevity. Gameto is working to reconstitute the ovaries, whereas we are looking to support and preserve the endogenous ovaries.

Also, we decided early on to develop a focused, rigorous program that was built out to thoughtfully de-risk as much as possible and to take us to clinic efficiently and effectively. We are initiating talks with the FDA this year, and this seed funding will take this program to IND submission. We have additional programs in early stages of development (more on that later this year will be tied to our Series A), but we felt strongly that we want to devote our attention to this first program and indication in order to drive it forward effectively without diluting our attention across multiple assets to start. We believe this allows us to take a deeper, more rigorous approach to what we are doing and build from a strong foundation. This focused approach sets us apart from other companies in the space that share our mission and who I hope succeed! and who are working on several things simultaneously. For us this seed round and focused approach - we believe - is the most effective strategy to get to clinic and be successful. Related to this, our candidate is closest to clinic and we are excited to test in humans soon and determine whether this has the potential for our broader vision of extending ovarian function - but one step at a time.

4. What do you see as the major obstacles to achieving ovarian longevity?

There are many fundamental questions about ovarian physiology - and womens health more broadly - that remain unanswered. In order to make a positive impact on ovarian biology we also have to understand the consequences of extending ovarian function (positive and negative) to ensure what were doing is safe in humans and achieving the desired goal, which is ultimately to provide therapeutic options to women that preserve agency over their bodies and reproductive health.

5. In the pharmaceutical industry we usually go after specific diseases. And in longevity biotechnology, most companies try to go after dual-purpose targets that may work in aging and disease. What indications are you targeting?

For our first program we are targeting poor responders to IVF. Similar to the longevity field we view this as an important stepping stone to advance our broader goal of prolonging ovarian function and forestalling the negative consequences that occur as the ovaries decline with age. This first indication (and those to follow, currently confidential) will enable us to establish safety and efficacy (evaluating efficacy and function in humans).

Oviva is one of 19 offspring companies tucked into the Cambrian fold that address certain system-wide triggers of aging. These include using stem cells to regenerate damaged or aging tissue; a treatment that counters the effects of those dwindling telomeres; and yet another that inhibits the formation of fibrotic cells that thicken and cause damage to the lung, uterus and other organs. To learn about longevity biotechnology, Cambrian biosciences, and many other cutting-edge academic and industry projects, consider registering for the 9th annual Aging Research and Drug Discovery conference, 29.08-2.09 in Denmark, hosted by the University of Copenhagen.

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Can We Fix Ovarian Aging? Here Is One Startup Up For The Task! - Forbes

Jamie Vardy naps in an oxygen tank, freezes his body in a cryotherapy chamber and straps on compression boots after every game all in the name of continuing his incredible career for as long as possible.

The 35-year-old has nearly every piece of recovery equipment on the market installed at his Lincolnshire home and has his sights set on playing on long after the end of his current contract at Leicester City.

Vardy has one year left and so far, the club have not opened talks with his representatives over a new deal, although manager Brendan Rodgers has said they would look at his contract situation this summer.

Leicester will be extremely busy in the transfer window, moving on fringe players and adding the quality to the squad that Rodgers accepts has been lacking, but securing Vardy for another couple of seasons may be the best piece of business they do.

Vardy recently celebrated his 10th anniversary at the club, a period that has seen a decade of unprecedented success for Leicester. In 385 appearances, he has scored 164 goals 133 of which have come in eight seasons in the Premier League. Vardy has scored 99 of those goals since turning 30.

Vardy has broken many records, such as scoring 13 in 11 consecutive games during the title-winning season of 2015-16 and becoming the oldest player to win the Premier League golden boot in 2020. He is also the only player to have played in every round of the FA Cup, from the preliminary stages to the final, which Leicester won last season.

But the fact he now holds the record for goals scored since his 30th birthday, beating Ian Wrights previous record, is significant.

Vardy is not a stereotypical player. He loves to buck the trend, and his longevity is making a mockery of the notion that a players best days are behind him once he enters his fourth decade.

This season aside when he missed 19 games at the start of the year through a serious hamstring injury and then a knee problem his ability to avoid injury has been remarkable. And, despite that absence, he is still the joint-sixth top scorer in the Premier League with 15 goals, level with Diogo Jota and Kevin De Bruyne, one behind Sadio Mane, and two behind Harry Kane.

No one who has scored at least 10 goals has a better minutes-per-goal ratio (120) than Vardy this season. Even more impressive is the fact he has taken only 47 total shots this season but, even though his shot accuracy is only 55 per cent, his goal conversion rate of 32 per cent is bettered only by Son Heung-min, who shared the Premier Leagues golden boot award this season with Mohamed Salah. When Vardy is on target he is clinical.

Maybe Leicester were waiting to see how he recovered from those rare injury setbacks, to see if they were an indication that time was catching up with their talismanic striker. That lethal first yard of pace may have diminished slightly, but his performances during Leicesters strong finish to the season indicate there is still plenty of running in those legs. His goal in the 4-1 win over Southampton took his tally since returning to five in his last four appearances.

A huge factor in his longevity is Vardys famous back story. Being rejected by Sheffield Wednesday at the age of 16 may have disillusioned him for a while as he gave up football and then started playing non-League with his friends but it also means, in theory, he has fewer years of hard yards in his legs. His first game above the fifth tier of English football only came when he joined Leicester at the age of 25.

When you get to 35 everyone references your age, but its just about how he is physically. Hes still a real threat at the very highest level, says Rodgers, who would love to keep Vardy at Leicester for a couple more years.

Whether its to have longevity as a player or a manager, you need that resilience and that ability to keep going. You need to look after yourself physically, too.

Hes obviously blessed genetically but he still works very, very hard at the physical aspect of his game to keep himself in the right condition. To get to that age and play and still look as strong as he does and as fast as he does is amazing.

It isnt just his physical condition that brings his longevity, it is also his mental strength. Although many pros reaching their mid-thirties may be tired of the daily grind of training, travelling, playing and recovering, Vardy still seems to love it and embraces it.

Hes been amazing and is a true legend of the club who still has many more games to go, Rodgers adds. If we can just get that little bit of luck with injury and keep this level of hunger and energy, which is so important, because there does come a point when they dont have that hunger or that energy anymore, especially when youve been doing it for so long.

But thankfully for him, hes still very keen to prove a point.

That hunger is still there and Vardy has always maintained he would like to finish his career with Leicester, but if Leicester dont move quickly on his contract situation there will be other opportunities. A final fling in Europe could be enticing.

Jamie Vardy on a free transfer? Even at 36 next summer, there would be no shortage of takers.

(Top photo: Mike Egerton/PA Images via Getty Images)

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Leicesters best business this summer might just be giving Vardy a new deal - The Athletic

There are corners of the world where people are regularly living past 100 years, places where there are so few cases of heart disease or dementia that they're almost non-existent. These parts of the globe hold some of the most valuable secrets to longevity, and because of recent research, we now have access to these secrets for our own lives as well.

These longevity secret-holders are known as the Blue Zones-five regions of the world with the highest concentrations of centenarians and supercentenarians. They include Nicoya in Costa Rica, Sardinia in Italy, Ikaria in Greece, Loma Linda in California, and Okinawa in Japan.

The Blue Zones practice daily eating, drinking, exercising, and spiritual practices that help them live long, healthy lives. Continue reading to learn about the drinking habits that keep the longest-living people healthy. And for more healthy aging tips, check out The Best Eating Habits of the Longest Living People.

Nicoya, which is located off the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, contains a secret to longevity that the other Blue Zones don't have. The water in Nicoya is rich in calcium, and according to ABC News, it has so much calcium that five liters a day would provide you with your daily calcium requirement.

This means that they're not only staying hydrated on a daily basis, but they're also naturally getting an important mineral every time they drink a glass of water.

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According to research published in the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine, all of the Blue Zones drink wine on a regular basis, except for the Adventists of Loma Linda, California.6254a4d1642c605c54bf1cab17d50f1e

Sardinians drink a specific type of wine called Cannonau wine.This wine is said to have over twice as many flavonoids as other types of red wine, which are phytochemicals that have heart-healthy benefits.

One of the things that many Blue Zone centenarians have in common is that they incorporate tea into their daily diet. For example, according to a National Geographic article covering the Blue Zones, Okinawans drink green tea on a daily basis.

Green tea has been found to have many different health benefits, which can all contribute to a long, healthy life. It's full of catechins, which are a type of flavonoid known to help fight free radicals, lower the risk of some cancers, and help to reduce the risk of heart disease.

The Blue Zone regions place value on community and spending plenty of time with friends and family, which is one of the factors that researchers believe keeps these people living such long, healthy lives.

For example, Okinawans often have a Moai, which is a close group of people that eat, drink, and live life together. In Sardinia, Italy, people spend time with their family and neighbors on a regular basis, and they often share meals and wine together. In Nicoya, Costa Rica, they practice an open-door policy with their community and often share food and drinks together, too.

Many people in Okinawa still practice the art of sitting on the floor for many of their daily activities. They oftentimes eat, socialize, read, and drink tea on the floor, which is one of the habits that keep them healthy!

According to the Blue Zones' official website, sitting on the floor and standing up "exercises their legs, back, and core in a natural way as they get up and down all day long. Sitting on the floor also improves posture and increases overall strength, flexibility, and mobility."

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5 Best Drinking Habits of the World's Longest Living People Eat This Not That - Eat This, Not That

Raise your hand if you'd like to live a long lifeand enjoy good health while you're at it. At age 118, Catholic nun Sister Andr of France seems to be doing just that. This inspiring supercentenarian has recently been named the oldest person on earth!

In multiple interviews, Sister Andr has been asked about the secrets to her longevity. Although she hasn't given a detailed account of her daily diet, it seems her eating habits have played a role in helping her reach her advanced age. (Find out which beverage she drinks every day.)

We could all take a lesson from Sister Andr's life of piety and service to others, as well as the dietary principles she has followed throughout her long life. Check out these four ways to eat like the world's oldest woman.

Since World War II, Sister Andr has been a member of the Catholic order Sisters of Charity, serving orphans, the elderly, and hospital patients. One hallmark of Catholic religious life is communal livingwhich typically includes communal eating. We'd venture to guess this is one key to Sister Andr's long life.

Science has plenty to say about the benefits of sitting down to meals with family and friends. Research from Oxford University reveals that the more often people eat with others, the more happy and satisfied they're likely to feel. A 2013 study in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior also found that, across the lifespan, eating with others was associated with a healthier diet.

Enjoying food with others is a core principle of the Mediterranean diet, too. (The French are especially famous for their leisurely communal meals.) Among its many health benefits, a Mediterranean diet has been shown to improve the gut microbiome in older people, reducing frailty and boosting overall health.

You might be surprised by Sister Andr's most-cited dietary choices. The nun has told reporters of her "guilty secret" of enjoying chocolate and wine on a regular basis. (Find out what happens when you eat chocolate every day.)6254a4d1642c605c54bf1cab17d50f1e

Though these pleasures may seem "guilty," there's a lot to be said for the power of food enjoyment. Savoring food can boost mood and relieve stresstwo important pieces of the longevity puzzle. After all, happiness is associated with a longer life! One study showed that people with better moods were 35% less likely to die over the course of five years.

Interestingly, Sister Andr isn't the first oldest person on the planet to credit chocolate and wine for her longevity. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the oldest person ever, fellow Frenchwoman Jeanne Louise Calment, also believed chocolate and port were essential to her long life.

Despite Sister Andr's confession of imbibing alcohol, she states that she drinks just one glass of wine per day. This falls in line with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) guidelines for "moderate" drinking for women.

The science is mixed on alcohol's effects on longevity, but some research suggests that moderate drinking could promote a longer life. A Dutch study of over 5,000 people found that moderate wine intake was positively associated with longevity, especially in women. (Binge drinking, on the other hand, reduced the lifespan.) The sweet spot for reaching age 90 or older appeared to be 5-15 grams of alcohol per day. For reference, a standard drink of five ounces of wine or 12 ounces of beer contains about 14 grams of pure alcohol.

Back to chocolate and wine (we didn't think you'd mind). Sister Andr's two favorite foods aren't just deliciousthey happen to be loaded with antioxidants. Red wine contains the antioxidant resveratrol, which might support heart health by warding off blood vessel damage, reducing harmful LDL cholesterol, and preventing blood clots. Chocolateespecially the dark varietyhas numerous antioxidants that might also reduce the risk of heart disease.

In general, for a longer life, you can't go wrong choosing nutrient-dense, high-antioxidant foods. (Learn why antioxidants are so helpful for extending your life.) Chocolate and wine aren't the only ones! Fruits like berries and citrus, vegetables like leafy greens and artichokes, and plant-based proteins like nuts and beans all pack a major antioxidant punch. As antioxidants dial down inflammation throughout the body, they help reduce the risk of age-related diseases. Sounds like a delicious formula for a long and healthy life.

Sarah Garone, NDTR

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4 Ways to Eat Like the World's Oldest Woman Eat This Not That - Eat This, Not That

Sitting by her collection of centenarian bounty awards and photographs of some of her happiest memories, Mirn Hughes, who will become one of Irelands oldest women this weekend, says she is looking forward to her birthday celebrations.

Her long life began on May 22nd, 1914, just two months before the beginning of the first World War. This Sunday, she will turn 108-years-old.

Born in Belfast, she spent her early years in Dublin where her father worked as a customs officer. Her parents met in London some years before and were both members of the Gaelic League. The family soon moved to Killarney in Co Kerry where she grew up.

Living in a nursing home throughout the Covid-19 crisis was not her first experience of surviving a pandemic. Vividly recalling the Spanish Flu in Ireland in 1918, she says her mother used to look after people who became ill in the neighbourhood at the time.

She used to go over to an elderly couple and I would go with her to help carry food and things for them but I was made to stay outside the gate to avoid getting the flu, she says.

Other standout memories of her years in Killarney include the Black and Tans patrolling her area in 1921. She can remember them driving around the road and soon after, the Free State soldiers arriving in 1922.

In the early 1930s, Hughes moved to Cork to study science in University College Cork, something which she acknowledges was unusual for women at the time, though she notes, I wasnt the first.

A girl from her secondary school had also studied science at UCC, she explains. I had to copy her. I honestly didnt know the difference between chemistry and physics, she jokes. She graduated with a BSc in 1935 and is UCCs oldest known science graduate. Her time there made her some very happy memories. She also recalls attending the Eucharistic Congress in 1932 with her family.

She went on to work as a chemist in UCCs medical laboratory for 16 years, observing first-hand the changes and advances in medicine at the time, and occasionally lecturing. Remaining there until she married her husband Frank in 1950, the couple then went to Dublin, where she became a teacher. Her husband was a clerical officer in what was Cras Iompair ireann (CI), the State transport company. The couple did not have children.

She puts her longevity down to Gods plan.

Its Gods plan for you. I have nothing to do with it. But I remember being asked before about whether I drink. I have the odd glass. Everything in moderation, she says.

Staff at Maryfield nursing home in Chapelizod in Dublin have planned a party for her 108th birthday on Saturday afternoon. The itinerary includes a Mass in the morning, followed by lunch with 10 friends in the nursing homes activity room. Later in the afternoon, an ice-cream van will be parked outside and a celebration will commence with speeches and music from a local school choir.

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Oldest woman in the State celebrates 108th birthday - The Irish Times