Catalan yogurt eaten daily by 117-year-old Maria Branyas gains global attention

"My manna from heaven." That's how Maria Branyas, the Catalan woman who died in 2024 at the age of 117, and who was the world's oldest person for 20 months, once described the yogurt she ate every day.

This detail was revealed by her family in a tweet from 2022, when Branyas had not yet become the world's oldest person. In that post, she even shared the brand of her daily yogurt, complete with photos of herself enjoying it.

"I have La Fageda yogurts every day," the tweet read. "They are natural, tasty, creamy, and have a special flavor of dignity, self-esteem, trust, tolerance, and responsibility. It's the most unique yogurt that exists."

For the last twenty-two years, Branyas had eaten yogurts from La Fageda. The dairy brand is based in La Fageda d'en Jordà natural reserve, near Olot, the northeastern Catalan town where Branyas had lived in a retirement home since the age of 92.

At the time the tweet was published, the revelation about her favorite yogurt went almost unnoticed, mentioned only by a few local media outlets, and would get buried until very recently.

In September this year, researchers published the findings of a study that Branyas had agreed to take part in at the age of 116, aimed at uncovering the secrets behind her long and healthy life.

The paper attributed her longevity to a combination of factors, particularly her "exceptional" genes and her adherence to the Mediterranean diet, but also mentioned her habit of eating three sugar-free yogurts every day. 

"That was when the Daily Mail and other British media made the connection with the 2022 tweet and reported that our brand, La Fageda, was the yogurt Branyas had daily," Ester Carrera, communications manager at La Fageda, tells Catalan News. 

Since then, a "whirlwind" of media attention has followed. "It's taken us by surprise. We're very happy and grateful," Carrera says.

"We've had an enormous number of inquiries from consumers asking where they can find our products, around 500 in just a few days, which is about the number we usually receive over nearly two years."

La Fageda yogurts are mainly sold in Catalonia, though they can also be found in select shops in other parts of Spain, including the Balearic Islands, Valencia, and Madrid.

The surge in interest has sparked demand from across Spain and even abroad. "Last week, we saw a 5% increase in sales, part of which is likely linked to this, although we don't yet have verifiable data on how much of it can be attributed to the news," Carrera notes. 

The artisanal brand is already well known in Catalonia. Founded in 1982 as a cooperative, La Fageda combines yogurt production with a social mission: integrating people with intellectual disabilities or severe mental health disorders through meaningful employment in the dairy sector.

More than 600 people are linked to the cooperative and foundation in some way, including 350 salaried workers, most of whom live with disabilities or mental health conditions.

Despite its newfound international attention and growing demand, La Fageda insists it has no plans to expand beyond its current scope. 

"Under no circumstances will this lead us to expand into more markets. We are a social project, not a commercial enterprise," Carrera stresses. 

In fact, all profits generated at the end of the year are always reinvested into the project.

"Our mission is to continue creating job opportunities, providing training, and offering services for vulnerable people in the Garrotxa region," she concludes.