Meet The World's Oldest Woman From Peru

Peruvian woman Filomena Taipe Mendoza claims to be the world's oldest person and claims her long life was due to drinking sheeps' milk and eating goat meat! Filomena who has lived a hard life in the Andes which saw her widowed at a tender age with nine young children, was discovered as the worlds oldest woman at 116, when she went to pick up a new type of retirement cheque, as she has never left her tiny village before!

                                                   

Peru's Ministry of Development produced her identity card which says Mrs Mendoza was born on December 20, 1897. If true, it makes her two-and-a-half months older than the Japanese woman who currently holds the world record.

                               

Misao Okawa, who was born on March 5, 1898, is the world's oldest person according to Guinness World Records and the California-based Gerontology Research Group. Her claim is still being investigated!

                                

She added: 'My secret to longevity is a natural diet: I always ate potatoes, goat meat, sheep milk, goat cheese and beans. Everything I cook comes from my garden. I never had canned soft drinks. I had a very hard life, I was very a young widow with nine dependent children and I worked hard to raise them. Only three of them are alive.'