Woman’s claim to be 127 doesn’t add up

Old and Young: A Mexican woman’s claim to be 127 and, thus, the oldest person to ever live, was greeted with skepticism by supercentenarian chronicler Robert Young.

The L.A. researcher wants more proof before he adds her to his ever-changing chart of super, super seniors.

Leandra Becerra Lumbreras, who reportedly was born Aug. 31, 1887 and has 153 descendants, has no actual birth certificate. However, an unofficial certificate was issued in 2009 by judges and notaries who researched her birth in the northern Mexican state of Tamaulipas.

When her birth was publicized this month, I checked with Young, senior database administrator for Gerontology Research Group, who validates such claims.

“The delayed birth document was issued July 10, 2009, when this woman was allegedly already 121 years old. That’s not proof of birth,” responded Young. “The document did not have names of parents. There’s no marriage record, either. The age of the granddaughter (43) makes this case suspect,” he added.

For now, anyway, Guinness World Records is sticking with its designation of Jeanne Louise Calment, of France, as oldest person who ever lived. She was born in 1875 and was 122 when she died in 1997.