Elixer of Life?

This is a truly odd story that has few precedents except as a plot device in fiction. The problem we face though is that such an elixir is and was actively sought in India and whatever brew he consumed is obviously impossible to reconstruct.

Having said that I suspect that a speculation of mine regarding the likely active ingredient may have some traction simply because the apparent appearance of the reported elixir conforms to my expectation . The speculation itself was driven by a nineteenth century report of an individual who was observed going through biological reversal and renewal while claiming to be in control.

In any case, it is uncommon to have a 110 year old man claim he took a magic potion. The effects have likely long worn off so he is likely wearing down at best at a delayed rate. Thus we have a good story at the moment.

Britain's oldest man says it's all to do with a magic potion from India

http://naturalplane.blogspot.ca/2012/11/just-facts-oldest-man-used-indian.html

He has lived to see 26 prime ministers, received seven telegrams from the Queen and was alive when the Wright brothers piloted the first powered plane in 1903.

But Britain’s oldest man – who turns 110 tomorrow – says his longevity isn’t entirely down to his strict vegetarian diet or his favourite tipple, gin.

The Reverend Reg Dean instead attributes it to a ‘mysterious brown-looking’ elixir of life given to him by a doctor when he was an army chaplain in India.

‘He said to me, “I have concocted a drink that will make you live for ever”, or something like that, and would I like to take it?’ he recalled yesterday.

‘Well I’m very naive, I can’t say no, so I drank it and here I am.’

The former teacher and church minister was born on November 4, 1902, in Tunstall, Staffordshire.

Reflecting on all he has witnessed, he said: ‘I remember before the days of Tarmac, the roads were all dust heaps.

‘I can remember hearing about the sinking of the Titanic when I was at my uncle’s farm.’

The three-times married minister, from Wirksworth, Derbyshire, has one son and two grandchildren.

He was ordained in the 1920s and later volunteered as an army chaplain in Burma and India during the Second World War.

In 1958, Mr Dean became a teacher and later served as minister at the United Reformed Churches in Wirksworth and Matlock, before retiring 29 years ago, aged 80.

Mr Dean, who received telegrams to mark his 100th and 105th birthdays and one every year since, says he wants to live until he is 120. The world’s oldest living man, aged 115, is Jiroemon Kimura from Japan. - Daily Mail