Sardinia Centenarians
Story shot for Time Magazine on August 2003

“The island of Sardinia has come up in recent years as another of these longevity champions. Because of genetical factors and life style, Sardinians are more likely predisposed to go over hundred years old. Immunologist Claudio Franceschi at the University of Bologna is the major researcher on longevity in Sardinia. Him and his team have measured the level of oxidants in the blood of centenarians and found that they have unusually high levels of vitamins E and A. But beside the scientific studies, whether their family coddles them or living by themselves in basic furnished homes, it is clear that the Sardinians centenarians have had a very healthy life style. They were simple shepherds and fishermen. Most of them are still living in the house where they were born, in the mountain’s farms of the center of Sardinia, or by the coasts, over looking the Mediterranean Sea. “