A Mexican woman who will become the oldest human ever to have lived when she turns 127 tomorrow has claimed chocolate is to credit for her longevity.
Leandra Becerra Lumbreras was born on 31 August, 1887, meaning she was 27 at the beginning of World War I and 82 when man first set foot on the moon.
And Ms Lumbreras’ family say that chocolate is the key to her long life, as well as sleeping for days on end and never getting married.
They add that part of her secret is keeping busy.
‘She was always a woman who fought. She was still sewing and weaving until about two years ago,’ granddaughter Miriam Alvear, 43, told El Horizonte.
‘She never ceased to be active, that’s why we think she’s lived so long.’
And when she says ‘fought’, it isn’t an exaggeration.
Ms Lumbreras reportedly fought in the 1910-1917 Mexican Revolution as a leader of the ‘Adelitas’ – a group of women who went with their husbands to battle.
The tragedy of Ms Lumbreras long life is that she has already buried five children and several of her 20 grandchildren, the last of whom died in 2013 – aged 90.
She also has 73 great-grandchildren and 55 great-great-grandchildren.
Authorities in Mexico are trying to provide her with a new birth certificate after she lost her original 40 years ago.
