When Victor Hugo was born, life expectancy at the time hovered between 30 and 40 years of age. How then, did people like Hugo go on to live to age 83? The author of Les Miserables and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, is by no means alone.

You don’t have to be famous to dramatically outlive life expectancy, and wealth is not a precursor to longevity either. Nutrition is often thought to be the key driver, but we know that not to be the case.

Hugo buried four of his five children, and the only child to outlive him was a schizophreniac who lived and died in a mental institution.

So what is it? Why do people like Hugo not live just a few years past life expectancy, but decades longer?

The answers (well at least our thoughts) and more in this episode of 100 Not Out.

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