Maybe Harold and Kumar had it right.
A Long Island, N.Y., woman turned 102 years old last week, and she celebrated the big day with a meal at one of her favorite local dining establishments: White Castle.
As part of the celebration, Madeleine Turpan was inducted by the fast food chain into its Craver's Hall of Fame.
"She credited her longevity to a glass of wine at dinner and, she said, 'eating at the Castle -- the White Castle,'" nephew Eugene Nifenecker told Newsday.
Turpan, a former dietician, told CBS New York that she's been eating at "the Castle" once a month for 80 years.
“Eat properly, it’s very important,” Turpan told the station. “And this is where the good proper food is, too. One of these days I’ll ask them how they make that hamburger but I’ll never match it, I could never match it.”
"The best birthday I've ever had," Turpan told ABC News.
Along with wine and White Castle, Turpan also enjoys sleep.
"Now that I'm in my hundreds, I spend most of my time taking naps," Turpan told Newsday. "I'll take a nap after every meal. Even if I just got up, had my breakfast, I gotta have a nap for half an hour."
Her nephew said Turpan went back to school at the age of 75, earning a bachelor's degree in philosophy. More recently, Turpan said she wanted to donate her body to science.
"She said, 'Why am I 100 and still have all my marbles and some people don't. Maybe this will help future generations," Nifenecker told Newsday.
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Before You Go
Imich is just one of several Americans who have been recognized as the oldest people in the world. However, the U.S. is not known for having the oldest population in the world in general. According to a 2011 study by Euromonitor, all of the countries with the oldest populations are situated in Europe, with the exception of Japan. The United States, however, might soon join its European and Japanese counterparts, as the Administration of Aging expects the percentage of Americans older than 65 to reach 19 percent by 2030.
Despite having been the home of the oldest person in the world, France, just like the U.S., is not known as one of the countries with the world's oldest population. According to the United Nations, the French elderly population grew from 7 percent to 14 percent in 115 years. In contrast, it will only take developing nations China and Brazil twenty-something years to experience the same change in demographics.
Japan is accustomed to a large elderly community. In January 2011, more than a fifth of Japanese were older than 65 and the average life expectancy stood at 83.1 years. Yet Japan's long lifecycle will likely create headaches for its lawmakers, who face the world's second-largest public debt and a below-replacement birthrate, making it difficult to continue handing out generous pension plans to a retiring workforce.
Capovilla's impressive lifespan highlights the growing concern of other Latin American countries -- particularly Brazil, Mexico, and Chile -- whose aging populations will put burdens on government finances. A report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies estimates that "the number of elderly in Latin America will triple as a share of the population by 2050," resulting in a "dramatic slowdown in population growth." Another concern for the continent is that while life expectancy has increased, living standards in many Latin American countries have stagnated. CSIS warns that "while the United States, Europe, and Japan all became affluent societies before they became aging societies, Latin America may grow old before it grows rich."