100-Year-Old Woman Credits Gin and Tonics for Her Long, Tipsy Life

The next time time you're deciding between one more gin cocktail or cashing out your tab, consider the former. One centenarian credits the drink for her long life. 

Mabel Jackson, a 100-year-old woman who lives in Suffolk, England, said that drinking six G&T's a day keeps her young, the Suffolk Gazette reported. "I have two at lunchtime, one at tea time with a biscuit and then three more during the evening while I do my knitting," she told the paper. 

Jackson said she's been drinking gin regularly for 82 years — since she was 18. The gin-loving centenarian, who buys one bottle of the stuff weekly, said she has consumed 4,264 bottles of gin over her lifetime. 

"Mum has always been a bit of a character," Mary Whiteside, Jackson's daughter, told the Gazette. "She loves a tipple, and to be honest it seems to have preserved her, like a good pickle."

There is no science to back up the idea that the gin has "preserved" Jackson, nor is consuming six cocktails per day a recommended healthy habit. By the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism's standards, Jackson is considered a "heavy drinker" (eight drinks or more per week), which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes can lead to problems like cancer, liver disease and high blood pressure. 

Still, gin isn't the only unconventional ingredient for which centenarians have credited their longevity. Emma Morano, who is currently the last person on earth to be born in the 1800s, has been eating two raw eggs a day since she was a young girl. 

Hmm, while eating raw eggs might preserve a life to 116, drinking six gin and tonics sounds way more pleasurable — even if you don't live quite as long.