World’s oldest person, Emma Morano celebrates 117th birthday

The world’s oldest living person, Ms Emma Morano of Vercelli, Italy on Tuesday celebrated her 117th birthday. Morano who was confirmed by the Guinness World Records as the world's oldest person on May 16 this year, was born on November 29, 1899. 

Morano’s life spans three centuries, as the only living person born in the 1800s, making her the world’s oldest person alive. She has over the years, survived two World Wars, more than 90 Italian governments, an abusive marriage, and the loss of her only child, a son.

She celebrated her birthday in her one-room apartment in the northern town of Verbania, where she hasn't left or years and was joined by her two elderly nieces, her caregivers and her long-time physician. 
 She credited her old age to living on raw eggs, a special diet she began after World War I, being single and getting to bed early.

Morano received greetings from Italy’s president, wishing her “serenity and good healthy,” and appeared for a brief live broadcast on state-run television. 

She accepted some gifts, including her favorite cookies, which she ate with some milk.

She then blew out the candles on her cake - with three numerals to show her age, 117 - and said: “I hope I don’t have to cut it!”
  
According to her, when she was a teenager, a doctor suggested that she eat raw eggs to combat her anemia. Morano followed a diet of two raw eggs, one cooked egg, a little minced meat and pasta for the past 90 years, but now limits herself to two eggs a day and a few biscuits.

But her physician, Dr Carlo Bava, has however credited her long life to her genetic make-up, and nothing else. 

"She is in a great state of health and mind. The fact that she has never had much variety in her diet is proof that she is so well-preserved thanks to genetics."

Morano's mother reached the age of 91 and she also had several sisters who reached more than a hundred years.