The allure of extreme longevity has beckoned for centuries. Research careers and marketing campaigns have been built on the idea that we can live longer, healthier lives by emulating long-lived people. It is a comforting thought, frequently used for research funding bids and to sell cookbooks.
Unfortunately, the data on people living to an unusually old age is deeply flawed. I tracked down data on 80 percent of the world’s people 110 or older and found that in many cases their advanced age is highly improbable. The errors in the data were striking.
These findings raise much bigger questions about how false claims about longevity and supercentenarians could persist for so long. Too few people in academia or among the general public have questioned how a man with no identifying documents living in a Venezuelan jungle could outlive every athlete, rich Swiss mountaineer and yogurt-slurping weekend warrior on Earth.
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