Centenarians without certificates
All Russian centenarians are illegal immigrantsAlexey Samoilovich, Snob magazine
Now there are 74 women and 1 man over 110 years old living on the planet.
Most of them are from Japan and America. And not a single resident of Russia. We found out why Russian centenarians are not accepted into the world club of the oldest people.
Recently, two of America's oldest women died on the same day. It happened on March 7 (The Associated Press). Maria Josephine Ray was 114 years and 294 days old. Her granddaughter Catherine Ray says: "Grandma was just enjoying life without thinking about death, and was preparing for a party in honor of her 115th birthday." Maria Ray's husband died in 1967, she has two sons, 8 grandchildren, 13 great-grandchildren and 5 great-great-grandchildren.
A few hours later, Daisy Bailey, who was 113 years and 342 days old, went to another world.
You may ask: where did such accurate data come from? They were provided by the world organization Gerontology Research Group (GRG), which keeps records and studies people over 110 years old, calling them supercentenarians ("supercentenarians"). There are not many such people in the world so far, and they are all mixed up. Anyone can view this list in Wikipedia or on the GRG website. According to GRG, Ray was the oldest person in the USA and the second in the world, behind the leader – Japanese Kama Chinen – only 7 days.
This organization began its activity in the early 1990s and is a global association of researchers in the field of gerontology. Their most notable work is monitoring people over the age of 110. At the moment, there are 71 women and 3 men on the GRG lists, mainly from the USA and Japan. At the same time, according to approximate estimates, 300-450 people of this age live in the world.
There are also a lot of centenarians in Russia, but GRG does not take them into account for a number of reasons. Stephen Coles, MD and PhD, Director and treasurer of the Supercentenarian Research Foundation, explains: "In Russia, obviously, there are people over 110 years old, but GRG standards are very strict. To include a person in our lists, you need to submit original birth documents, and they are often missing. We have established contacts with the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow to translate supporting documents into English, but this agreement does not find application: there are simply no documents."
"Our work today depends on the system of documenting the birth of citizens 110–odd years ago," added Robert Young, senior researcher at GRG. – At that time, Russia did not provide full-fledged birth certificates for peasants. Nevertheless, there are several people in the GRG database, such as 110-year-old Helen Czechowicz, who were born in Russia, after which they left for Germany and the USA. There are other difficulties. In the countries of the former USSR, they believe that longevity is an honor and the road to high status, so people tend to exaggerate their age. For example, Grigory Nestor from Ukraine claimed that he was 116 years old, providing a modern passport as proof.
But a record of his birth was found, which clearly indicated that he was actually 96 years old. To get the true picture and avoid confusion, it is important to study the early recordings."
The Russian national award "Tree of Life", which annually awards the oldest Russians diplomas in the categories "Long-lived of Russia" and "Creative long-lived of Russia", is not so pedantic to the documents. Varvara Semenikova (117 years old) and Shamsinisa Asylgareeva (111 years old) were the first among the centenarians to receive the award.
But, probably, it is not necessary to condemn GRG for such a formal approach. Close attention to all the little things is necessary, because the group sets itself research tasks: it is important to find out where the maximum "ceiling" of a person's life is.
"The average life expectancy in the world is growing due to public health measures: clean water, clean air, antibiotics, etc.," says Stephen Coles. "However, most people consider aging inevitable and do not try to do something to improve health, despite the promotion of a healthy lifestyle. Attempts to force Russians to drink less vodka have failed, as have efforts to combat childhood obesity in the United States. The improvement in life expectancy in the United States may slow down due to the large number of diseases with type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer's disease."
On the other hand, Kols continues, the maximum life expectancy is unlikely to increase. It seems that there is an invisible barrier at the genome level that prevents Homo Sapiens from living more than 125 years. That's why GRG hopes to get blood samples of centenarians next year and complete the main project of comparative DNA analysis.
Meanwhile, the world club of those over 110 years old is becoming more numerous every decade. Does this indicate the progress of world pharmacology and a steady improvement in the quality of life? Or is this just the effect of the information society, where statistics are kept more and more accurately every year? Probably both.
After the recent death of two of the oldest American women, Neva Morris from Iowa is considered the oldest resident of the United States: she is only 114 years and 216 days old. Having lived to such years, she does not lose optimism. Her 90-year-old son-in-law Tom Wickersham says that Neva loves to play bingo and sings You Are My Sunshine almost every day. Russian Shamsinisa Asylgareeva gives only one piece of advice to the question: "How to live a long and happy life?": "Live in love and harmony!" And, note, no words of gratitude to your attending physician.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru15.03.2010