Rare Supercentenarian Ate 1 Food 3x Daily. Here’s What Surprised Scientists Inside Her Gut Microbiome
When María Branyas Morera died in 2024 at age 117, she became the most thoroughly studied supercentenarian in history. Researchers had collected her biological samples the year before, and what they found in her gut rewrote some assumptions about how people reach extreme old age. Here are the questions readers are asking.
What Did Scientists Find in Her Gut Microbiome?
She had the gut of a much, much younger person. That’s the short version. Bifidobacterium, a beneficial bacteria that floods the infant gut and fades as we age, made up around half of her microbiome. That’s roughly five times what shows up in adults between 61 and 91. The finding appeared in a Cell Reports Medicine paper from September 2025, and it ran counter to what scientists expected from someone older than almost anyone in recorded history.
Her cells backed up the youthful gut. Across several DNA methylation clocks, which read chemical tags on DNA to estimate biological age, she clocked in 17 to 23 years younger than her actual age.
How Was the Study Done and Who Ran It?
María was the oldest verified living person on the planet until she died at 117. The research came out of the Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute in Barcelona under Dr. Manel Esteller, with Eloy Santos coordinating. Calling it thorough undersells it. The team mapped her genome, proteome, epigenome, metabolome and microbiome from blood, saliva, urine and stool drawn when she was 116.
That genome held surprises of its own: seven protective gene variants never recorded in European populations before, plus others tied to immune strength, lower cancer risk and heart and brain protection.
Why Did The Findings Surprise Researchers?
Here’s the part that genuinely caught the team off guard. María didn’t age slowly. She aged fast and slow at the same time. Esteller called it a “fascinating duality,” markers of deep aging sitting right next to markers of a much younger body. His conclusion reframes a common fear: extremely advanced age and poor health are not intrinsically linked. In other words, a very long life and a healthy one may not be the trade-off people assume.
Did Yogurt Really Help Her Live to 117?
Probably not on its own. She did eat three yogurts a day, and the live cultures in yogurt can encourage Bifidobacterium to grow. But correlation isn’t causation, and the scientists studying her were the first to say so. Her yogurt habit sat alongside a Mediterranean diet, daily movement, a busy social calendar, solid sleep and zero tobacco or alcohol. Pulling one habit out of that mix and calling it the secret misreads the science. Outside experts think her gut reflected her overall health rather than creating it.
Can You Copy What She Did?
You can shift your gut microbiome with diet and habits, but you can’t hand yourself her genes. That’s the honest dividing line. Her Mediterranean eating pattern, her physical activity, her social ties, her sleep and her clean living are all things research already links to better aging, and they’re all worth adopting. What they won’t do is guarantee you reach 117, because the rare protective variants in her DNA did work that lifestyle cannot copy.
What Does This Mean for Gut and Longevity Science?
A 2025 review of gut and aging research found that beneficial bacteria like Bifidobacterium do tend to run higher in some long-lived groups. But the same body of work shows pro-inflammatory bacteria climbing with age in other centenarians.
So the cleaner takeaway isn’t eat more yogurt and live longer. It’s that the gut clearly plays a role in aging, and scientists are still working out exactly what that role is. One remarkable woman, however well documented, can’t settle that question on her own. For now, the most reliable path is the inside-out approach research already supports for healthy aging.
This article was created by content specialists using various tools, including AI.
