Where are those pickled herring?

I just read a story of this Dutch woman who was the oldest person in the world. She just died at the ripe old age of 115. She was "sharp right up to the end, joking that pickled herring was the secret to her longevity." Scientists say that Henrikje van Andel-Schipper's mind was probably as good as it seemed: a post-mortem analysis of her brain revealed few signs of Alzheimer's or other diseases commonly associated with a decline in mental ability in old age."

I read that at the age of 82 she called a uninversity to inform them she wanted to donate her body to science. When she was 111 she made her second call worried she might no longer be of interest.

I thought it was really nice of the elder home she was staying in, when asked what she really died of, "the director of the elderly home where she was living declined to give a cause of death, pointing to her extremely advanced years." Pretty safe answer.

"She died from stomach cancer, and you and I can also die from stomach cancer, her case demonstrates that very old people die of diseases, not simply old age.

I guess the secret is in the pickled herring, and her last piece of advice.

Asked what advice she would give to people who want to live a long time, she once quipped: "Keep breathing."

Jim