Oldest man alive chewed coca leaf his whole life.

[Redlite_GrnRight]

I thought this could be cool to discuss. The article says he was like most "Bolivian highlands peasants", chewing coca leaf his whole life. Do you think this could have been a contributing factor to his long life?

http://news.yahoo.com/bolivia-records-aymara-herder-123-years-old-202553434.html

 

[Tenchi]

Welcome to the forum. Just a little advice going forward, please post some of the article in question rather than just a link. That way, your thread won't get closed.

Bolivia records: Aymara herder is 123 years old

FRASQUIA, Bolivia (AP) — If Bolivia's public records are correct, Carmelo Flores Laura is the oldest living person ever documented.

They say he turned 123 a month ago.

The native Aymara lives in a straw-roofed dirt-floor hut in an isolated hamlet near Lake Titicaca at 13,100 feet (4,000 meters), is illiterate, speaks no Spanish and has no teeth.

He walks without a cane and doesn't wear glasses. And though he speaks Aymara with a firm voice, one must talk into his ear to be heard.

"I see a bit dimly. I had good vision before. But I saw you coming," he tells Associated Press journalists who visit after a local TV report touts him as the world's oldest person.

Hobbling down a dirt path, Flores greets them with a raised arm, smiles and sits down on a rock. His gums bulge with coca leaf, a mild stimulant that staves off hunger. Like most Bolivian highlands peasants, he has been chewing it all his life.

Guinness World Records says the oldest living person verified by original proof of birth is Misao Okawa, a 115-year-old Japanese woman. The oldest verified age was 122 years and 164 days: Jeanne Calment of France, who died in 1997.

Full Story

 

[Le'Mix]

I bet he's about 73 really. :D

 

[Tenchi]

I bet he's about 73 really. :D

By that logic, I wonder if I can claim myself as a particularly sprightly Octogenarian?

 

[slimvictor]

To what does Flores owe his longevity?

"I walk a lot, that's all. I go out with the animals," says Flores, who long herded cattle and sheep. "I don't eat noodles or rice, only barley. I used to grow potatoes, beans, oca (an Andean tuber)."

The water Flores drinks originates on the snow-capped peak of Illampu, one of Bolivia's highest.

He says he doesn't drink alcohol, but imbibed some in his youth. He's eaten a lot of mutton, and though he likes pork it is hardly available. He fondly remembers hunting and eating fox as a younger man.

Sounds like a nice life. Lots of exercise, living in nature, eating healthy food.
Avoiding rice and noodles might mean he avoids processed, white grains, and sticks to whole grains (barley).
Very healthy.
Drinks clean water.

And a thought:
I would guess that chewing coca leaf is far, far better for one's health than drinking.
Since he avoided alcohol, and chose coca instead, it would make sense that he would live far longer than your average alcohol-drinker.

 

[Tenchi]

Add on the fact that he lives at a high altitude, so less oxygen in the air, meaning less reactive oxygen species to cause DNA and cellular damage.

 

[Thou]

Why are coca leaves illegal again?

 

[23536]

Are coca leaves really illegal? A lot of Colombians in Miami make coca tea and I've never heard of any of them being busted for it.

I mean, I'm sure there are laws against it, but there are also never-enforced laws against cuntilingus and camel riding.

 

[PriestTheyCalledHim]

I bet he's about 73 really. :D

This is possible sometimes with older people their actual age or birthday can get easily changed even on official documents or with an ID, and sometimes they'll appear older officially but really are not that old.

 

[Foreigner]

It's probably his life in the mountains that greatly contributed to his age. If we didn't have the medical technology that we currently have to combat all the new diseases that result from industrialization, people in big cities would have life spans that are shorter than at the turn of the century. Living conditions in many ways have deteriorated, especially in terms of contamination.

Add on the fact that he lives at a high altitude, so less oxygen in the air, meaning less reactive oxygen species to cause DNA and cellular damage.

That's not how it works. Humans don't live at 40,000 feet. The oxygen levels on mountains are more or less the same as lower down. The difference is the partial pressure of oxygen. Scientists don't really know why our bodies can't absorb oxygen as well at higher altitude, but the body just adapts by creating more red blood cells.

 

[Tenchi]

Well, the UK needs to change their national curriculum, as that was taught in school science classes.

 

[Foreigner]

Well, the UK needs to change their national curriculum, as that was taught in school science classes.

Probably. You can read more about what I just said here.

The percentage of oxygen in air, at 21%, remains almost unchanged up to 21,000 metres (69,000 ft).[6] The RMS velocities of diatomic nitrogen and oxygen are very similar and thus no change occurs in the ratio of oxygen to nitrogen. However, it is the air density itself, the number of molecules (of both oxygen and nitrogen) per given volume, which drops as altitude increases. Consequently, the available amount of oxygen to sustain mental and physical alertness decreases with altitude.

 

[23536]

Scientists don't really know why our bodies can't absorb oxygen as well at higher altitude

Because partial pressure of O2 is lower, so less O2 can stay dissolved in blood?