World's Oldest Woman, 116, Reveals Her Top Secrets for Long Life

It's an age-old question: What's the key to a long life? Well, one Spanish woman might just hold the answers.

Maria Branyas is the world's oldest woman at 116 years old, and she has no major health complications, Knewz.com reported.

Scientists are working to discover the secrets to Branyas' long, healthy life. Despite being more than a century old, Branyas has no cardiovascular problems and can recall details of her youth back to when she was 4 years old.

According to The U.S. Sun, Branyas' only ailments are hearing and mobility issues.

Scientists have taken DNA samples from Branyas in hopes to learn about her longevity and hope to use information to cure diseases.

Branyas has cited removing "toxic people" from her life, avoiding "excess" and eating natural yogurt every day as the recipe for a long, healthy life.

According to the Sun, Spanish researcher Manel Esteller visited Branyas in Olot, Girona, in Spain earlier this year, determining "she's incredible."

"She has a completely lucid head. She remembers with impressive clarity episodes of her when she was only 4 years old, and she does not present any cardiovascular disease, common in elderly people," Esteller said.

"The only thing she has are mobility and hearing problems," he added.

Esteller, a world leader in genetics, believes nature and nurture have played a role in her ability to stay healthy for so long.

"It is clear that there is a genetic component because there are several members of her family who are over 90 years old," Esteller said.

Branyas was actually born in the United States on March 4, 1907, to an expatriate Spanish family. But she went back to Catalonia, Spain, in 1915 when her father's health and financial status were in decline.

Branyas previously shared some of her secrets to longevity on X (previously known as Twitter).

"I have always eaten little, but everything, and I have never followed any regime. I have not suffered from any illness or been through an operating room," she wrote, according to the U.S. Sun.

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Branyas also credited "order, tranquility, good connection with family and friends, contact with nature, emotional stability, lots of positivity and away from toxic people" to her longevity. But one secret was much simpler - "luck."

Esteller plans to do research on Branyas' DNA, with a focus on 200 genes that are related to ageing.

"What is clear is that she is a person with an extraordinary capacity for resilience… She is a true survivor," Esteller said.