The secret to a long life

Lactobacillus bulgaricus sounds like a nasty infectious disease but the organism that curdles milk may be the reason. Maria Shopova recently celebrated her 100th birthday. Unaware that she may owe her longevity to the friendly bacterium, Maria grins, unveiling her two remaining teeth, and explains: "It's luck given by God". The lively centenarian, who kept a cow until she was 80, has lived on dairy products -- yoghurt in particular -- most of her life in the picturesque mountain village of Momchilovtsi in southern Bulgaria. The Balkan country proudly claims to have invented yoghurt and given the world the secret to a long life but its own consumption has steadily declined since the collapse of communism. Yoghurt is slowly disappearing from the nation's table with annual consumption falling from 40 kg (88 lb) per capita, the world's highest in the 1980s, to 22 kg in 2001. The drop has paralleled a decline in agricultural production and incomes over the past 13 years as ex-communist Bulgaria charts a difficult path towards a market economy, industry officials said.