Oldest Person in the World: Is it Possible to Live to 120?

The interest in people living to 100 and beyond is really becoming a hot topic again at the time of this article writing. Well, it always has been a hot topic--except for that time period back around Moses' time when there was general interest in who was going to make it to 500. But since how long we live has been reduced greatly since that era--we've evolved into thinking someone living to 100 as one of life's greatest accomplishments. While many of the people who live to 100 and above usually just shrug their shoulders over how they did it--the ones who claim to be living far beyond that (110 and above) are touting their ages a little more...or at least their families are. And when claims start coming to the fore that someone is close to 120--the suspicions can start running high when it could mean prestige in the Guinness Book of World Records. On the other hand, when you see what one Muslim woman in Israel claiming to be 120 consumes in her diet...it makes you wonder if it really is possible to extend our lifespan exponentially.

This particular woman claiming to be that age is named Mariam Amash and apparently was discovered when applying for a new ID card in Jerusalem. Because her birth certificate isn't authenticated (reportedly, Turkish authorities filled out her birth certificate in 1888 when they ruled in the Arab region she's from)--it leaves a wide-open speculation that she wants to be designated as the oldest known woman living in the world. Well, I say she--when it's actually her family who's given more information to the Israeli press recently to make attempts at proving her age. The woman herself apparently isn't talking to the press and was only discovered when applying for that new ID and telling the clerks she was 120.