When you're facing into your 117th birthday, it's inevitable you will begin to cast your mind back, and perhaps wonder what may have contributed to your remarkably long life.

And it looks like 116-year-old Emma Morano has cracked it.

A native of Italy, Emma puts her upcoming birthday down to her two-a-day egg habit.

Having been diagnosed with anaemia at the age of 20, Emma, who was born in 1899, began including eggs in her daily diet and insists they are responsible for her good health.

“Emma has always eaten very few vegetables, very little fruit. When I met her, she ate three eggs per day, two raw in the morning and then an omelette at noon, and chicken at dinner," her doctor, Carlo Bava, told Agence-France Press.

Still eating two a day, Emma reveals she also includes cookies in her daily plan, but struggles with the latter, saying: "But I do not eat much because I have no teeth."

Emma, who will turn 117 next month, is expecting visitors from all over the world, remarking: "People come. I don’t invite anybody but they come. From America, Switzerland, Austria, Turin, Milan … They come from all over to see me."

BRB – whipping up a quick omelette.