Diet of quinoa, mushrooms, cocoa kept world oldest person alive at 123

A 123-year-old farmer, from Bolivia, who has been named the oldest person alive, has claimed that a diet of quinoa, mushrooms and coca has kept him alive for over a century.

Carmelo Flores, who is an indigenous cattle herder credits the traditional Andean diet for his longevity.

Flores said that he has lived this long by eating quinoa grains, riverside mushrooms and constantly chewing coca leaves, adding that he finds potatoes with quinoa delicious, News.com.au reported.

Flores also he said that he walks a lot, consumes only barley, doesn't drink alcohol and has had a lot of mutton.

The Aymara native, who resides in a straw-roofed dirt-floor hut in an isolated hamlet near Lake Titicaca, is illiterate, speaks no Spanish and has no teeth.

The South American country, who only started issuing official birth certificates in 1940, has legally accepted Flores's birthday as July 16 1980 that is mentioned in his baptism certificate and national identity documents.

The oldest man alive, who walks without a cane and doesn't wear glasses, broke the Guinness World Records of the oldest living person verified by original proof of birth of a 115-year-old Japanese woman, Misao Okawa.