00:11: The
heart of Sardinia – land of adventurers, land of bandits. In the 80s tours of
the island proved popular, and sheep farmers were able to earn some extra
income. Now that is the past. But the present is even more exciting, because
villages like Tiana are home to some of the oldest people in the world. Among
them is Antonio Todde. At 122, he is the world’s
oldest man. This visit from Vienna is an exciting moment for the former sheep
farmer. Daughter Laura and son Antonio proudly show us photos. They see every
day with their father as a gift.
01:10: We’ve
arrived on a good day. Antonio is in the mood for joking, and
isn’t afraid to flirt with our production team. Senior Todde
has done everything there is to do in life. His family tell all, including the
secret to a long life, much of which sounds plausible.
01:37: Laura: Hard work and a healthy life. He
worked with sheep all his life. During the winter he would spend six months
with the animals in all manner of weather – that toughens you up. Discipline is
important, prayer, friends and family. He isn’t interested in modern things.
01:59: Antonio Todde’s lifestyle is no special case. In fact, many
Sardinians have an above-average immune system. This is particularly noticeable
in later years. Yet the Sardinian lifestyle differs little from other
Europeans. The mystery could be unlocked here in Tiana, in this centuries-old
village. It has been found that its 1,200 inhabitants come from just 8 founding
families – an ideal place for researching genetic predisposition to certain
diseases. 90% of men and women in the village marry one another and have done
for centuries.
02:58: In church
records, the 28 surnames that exist in the village have been recorded for
centuries. For 350 years every birth, death and marriage has been noted here.
Inbreeding was not taboo – marriages between cousins was common.
03:24: A
genetic gold mine has thus been preserved for centuries – and it is to be
studied in this lab. In Alghero, north-western Sardinia, the Centre for
Molecular Biology Research has been established. Here blood and plasma will be
analysed. Genetic research requires places like Tiana. The biologists’ search
for the genetic factors of a disease would be extremely difficult in a large
city. The smaller the homogeneity of a population however, the easier the
search becomes, as the gene pool is greatly reduced. Tiana becomes a model of
the world. In Algero, scientists aiming to develop of
gene therapy, a new form of preventative medicine.
04:06: Speaker 1 (In English): So I think that’s a very good model if you think in terms of
an approach to this study of (indistinguishable). It’s very interesting because
you can control much better factors, risk factors such as nutrition for example
than if you study a big population in a big city, where everybody has a
different life style or different diet.
04:36: For his
research, Mario Perastout has become a vampire, as is
jokingly said in the village. Most have given seven blood samples. His family discuss
their discomfort with modern life. The faceless big cities crowd people
together, say the family. Young people don’t know how older people used to live
and in Sardinia, the land of the centenarians, old family habits are being
called into question.
05:11: Speaker 2: Respect for the elderly has
long gone. The values of the youth are very different: pleasure, information,
media. The youth today is more prejudiced. I have a lot to say to them, but no
one listens.
05:41: The
harsh beauty of Sardinia. Here one can grow old. Stress-free life, rural
lifestyle, the Sardinian cuisine.
05:58 And now
the new fame of Sardinia. In the study of Sardinian genes, scientists want to
prove that there are genes which protect people against environmental influences
and that their immunological protection works better than in other humans. Even
here some families grow old, while others die of infection. It’s exactly this
puzzle that needs to be decrypted.
06:19: Speaker 1 (In English): In the future,
a lot of different decisions will be based on the knowledge of our disposition
to some disease or some behaviour. It’s not just disease, behaviour for
example, or style of life, or whatever… So I don’t
think this can be left without rules.
06:48: Antonio Todde may be blessed with these particularly resilient
genes. He does not know anything about studying the Sardinian gene pool. He
doesn’t give much thought to modernity anyhow – his life is that of his
ancestors.
07:16: In Cagliari,
the island’s capital, don’t have inhabitants Antonio Todde.
He never came here. In the big city, he says, you no longer know what is good
for you and what is not. In the volatile Cagliari, no one is interested in the
secrets of the centenarians. It is only a matter of time until the traces of
the village centenarians disappear for good.