This is the VOA SpecialEnglish SCIENCE REPORT.

The Italian island of Sardinia recently lost its oldest citizen.Family members say Antonio Todde died in his sleep early this month.Mister Todde was one-hundred-twelve years old. He was less thanthree weeks away from his one-hundred-thirteenth birthday.Record-keeping experts say he was the world's oldest man.

Mister Todde was born in a village on Sardinia inEighteen-Eighty-Nine. He cared for farm animals in the mountainsalmost all his life. Mister Todde often said that drinking a glassof red wine every day helped him live to an old age.

His long life and that of other very old Sardinians is thesubject of a scientific project called Akea. Luca Deiana of SassariUniversity is directing the study. He says the name Akea comes froma traditional greeting on Sardinia. It means "health and life forone-hundred years."

Professor Deiana and his team started to collect information forthe study in Nineteen-Ninety-Seven. They identified more thantwo-hundred-twenty Sardinians who were centenarians -- one-hundredyears old or older.

His team required three documents to confirm a person's age. Theyare a government birth record, a church record and a statement by aclose family member.

The Akea study has produced two major findings. The first isSardinia's extremely high number of centenarians. The island hasabout one-hundred-thirty-five centenarians for every one-millionpeople. In other western countries, the average is aboutseventy-five centenarians for every one-million people.

The second major finding was an unusual rate of female to malecentenarians. Sardinia has two women centenarians for every malecentenarian. In central Sardinia there are equal numbers of femaleand male centenarians.

Studies in other parts of the world have shown a much higherpercentage of female centenarians. The Akea study collectedinformation about the health and diet of about one-hundred-forty ofthe centenarians. About ninety percent of those in the study alsoagreed to provide blood for scientific testing. The study team hopesto identify genetic material in the blood that can be linked tosuccessful aging.

Study leaders say there is no single reason why people onSardinia live so long. They believe the answer is a combination ofgenetic and environmental conditions.

This VOA Special English SCIENCE REPORT was written by GeorgeGrow.