Sánchez Blázquez, nicknamed Shorty by his friends, is a 112-year-old former coal miner who lives close to Niagara Falls in upstate New York in the US.

Born in the Spanish province of Salamanca in 1901, he moved to Cuba at the age of 17 to work on the sugar plantations.

He then arrived in the United States via the iconic immigration centre on Ellis Island in 1920.

After working as a miner in Kentucky, he eventually settled in the Niagara area, close to the border with Canada, where he has lived ever since.

Shorty succeeded Japan's Jiroemon Kimura, who died on June 12 at the age of 116.

According to Guinness, he is currently the only male born in 1901 with proof of birth.

In a statement, Sánchez Blázquez said he believed he had lived to such an old age thanks to a daily dose of a banana and six tablets of Anacin, a branded pain-reliever that contains aspirin and caffeine.

That naturally delighted Anacin's manufacturer Insight Pharmaceuticals.

"Historically, apples are the fruit most associated with staying healthy and avoiding doctors," said marketing vice-president Jennifer Moyer.

"Our scientists had never looked into the banana before. But now that the certified oldest man in the world credits bananas and Anacin as his life-extending combo, we're certainly going to explore whether a new 'Bananacin' product makes sense."