Editing Longevity (section)

==Myths and claims==
{{Main|Longevity myths|Longevity claims}}
Longevity myths are traditions about long-lived people (generally [[supercentenarian]]s), either as individuals or groups of people, and practices that have been believed to confer longevity, but for which scientific evidence does not support the ages claimed or the reasons for the claims.<ref name=trad1>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/secretsoflongevi00nima|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/secretsoflongevi00nima/page/101 101]|title=Secrets of Longevity|quote=Chuan xiong ... has long been a key herb in the longevity tradition of China, prized for its powers to boost the immune system, activate blood circulation, and relieve pain. | vauthors = Ni M |isbn=978-0-8118-4949-4|year=2006|publisher=Chronicle Books}}</ref><ref name=trad2>{{Cite book |url= https://archive.org/details/endtoageingremed00fuld |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/endtoageingremed00fuld/page/27 27] |title=An End to Ageing: Remedies for Life |quote= Taoist devotion to immortality is important to us for two reasons. The techniques may be of considerable value to our goal of a healthy old age, if we can understand and adapt them. Secondly, the Taoist longevity tradition has brought us many interesting remedies.| vauthors = Fulder S |author-link=Stephen Fulder|isbn=978-0-89281-044-4|year=1983|publisher=Destiny Books}}</ref> A comparison and contrast of "longevity in antiquity" (such as the [[Sumerian King List]], the [[genealogies of Genesis]], and the Persian [[Shahnameh]]) with "longevity in historical times" (common-era cases through twentieth-century news reports) is elaborated in detail in [[Lucian Boia]]'s 2004 book ''Forever Young: A Cultural History of Longevity from Antiquity to the Present'' and other sources.<ref>{{Cite journal|journal=Bulletin Mensuel d'Information de l'Institut National d'Études Démographiques: Population & Sociétés|issue=365|date=February 2001|title=Living Beyond the Age of 100| vauthors = Vallin J, Meslé F |publisher=Institut National d'Études Démographiques|url=http://www.ined.fr/fichier/t_publication/27/publi_pdf2_pop_and_soc_english_365.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120901014957/http://www.ined.fr/fichier/t_publication/27/publi_pdf2_pop_and_soc_english_365.pdf|archive-date=1 September 2012}}</ref>

After the death of [[Juan Ponce de León]], [[Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés]] wrote in ''Historia General y Natural de las Indias'' (1535) that Ponce de León was looking for the waters of [[Bimini]] to cure his aging.<ref>Fernández de Oviedo, Gonzalo. ''Historia General y Natural de las Indias'', book 16, chapter XI.</ref> Traditions that have been believed to confer greater human longevity also include [[alchemy]],<ref name=kohn>{{Cite book|title=Daoism and Chinese Culture|vauthors=Kohn L|year=2001|publisher=Three Pines Press|pages=4, 84|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2AURAQAAIAAJ&q=%22longevity+tradition%22|isbn=978-1-931483-00-1|access-date=2020-11-30|archive-date=2024-06-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240622015347/https://books.google.com/books?id=2AURAQAAIAAJ&q=%22longevity+tradition%22|url-status=live}}</ref> such as that attributed to [[Nicolas Flamel]]. In the modern era, the [[Okinawa diet]] has some reputation of linkage to exceptionally high ages.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Okinawa program: Learn the secrets to healthy longevity|vauthors = Willcox BJ, Willcox CD, Suzuki M|page=3}}</ref>

Longevity claims may be subcategorized into four groups: "In late life, very old people often tend to advance their ages at the rate of about 17 years per decade .... Several celebrated super-centenarians (over 110 years) are believed to have been double lives (father and son, relations with the same names or successive bearers of a title) .... A number of instances have been commercially sponsored, while a fourth category of recent claims are those made for political ends ...."<ref name=g>{{Cite book|title=Guinness Book of World Records|year=1983|pages=16–19|title-link=Guinness Book of World Records}}</ref> The estimate of 17 years per decade was corroborated by the 1901 and 1911 British censuses.<ref name="g"/> ''Time'' magazine considered that, by the Soviet Union, longevity had been elevated to a state-supported "Methuselah cult".<ref name=time>{{Cite news|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,908667-1,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071102230936/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,908667-1,00.html|archive-date=November 2, 2007|title=No Methuselahs|date=1974-08-12|access-date=2009-05-13|work=[[Time Magazine]]}}</ref>

[[Robert Ripley]] regularly reported supercentenarian claims in ''[[Ripley's Believe It or Not!]]'', usually citing his own reputation as a fact-checker to claim reliability.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Ripley's Believe It or Not! 15th Series|publisher=[[Pocket Books]]|location=New York City|date=September 1969|author=Ripley Enterprises, Inc.|pages=112, 84, 56|quote=The Old Man of the Sea / Yaupa / a native of Futuna, one of the New Hebrides Islands / regularly worked his own farm at the age of 130 / He died in 1899 of measles — a children's disease ... Horoz Ali, the last Turkish gatekeeper of Nicosia, Cyprus, lived to the age of 120 ... Francisco Huppazoli (1587–1702) of Casale, Italy, lived 114 years without a day's illness and had 4 children by his 5th wife — whom he married at the age of 98|title-link=Ripley's Believe It or Not!}}</ref>