They describe the diet that must be followed to add years to life

It is clear that everything we eat interferes with our health and therefore with our aging, but what would you say if I told you that two American researchers from the University of Southern California (USA) and the University of Wisconsin-Madison have found the keys that would make up the longevity diet, or put another way, have revealed what to eat and when to have a longer and healthier life.

Professor Valter Longo, of the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, and Rozalyn Anderson, professor of geriatrics at the University of Wisconsin, have taken into account many aspects of nutrition to reach these conclusions, which they have revealed in the Cell magazine. Among them is the composition of the food, the calories ingested, as well as the duration and frequency of the fasting periods. The basis of the study has been hundreds of previous works on diseases, nutrition and longevity, done in laboratory animals and in humans.

“We explore the link between nutrients, fasting, genes, and longevity in short-lived species, and connect these links with clinical and epidemiological studies in primates and humans, including centenarians. By taking an approach based on more than a century of research, we can begin to define a longevity diet that represents a strong foundation for nutritional recommendations and future research,” Longo explains.

Characteristics of the ideal longevity diet

Dietary factors that affect several longevity-regulating genetic pathways in both animals and humans were taken into account, such as insulin levels, insulin-like growth factor 1, C-reactive protein, and cholesterol levels. But then, what characteristics does the longevity diet have? Here are the steps he recommends:

• Moderate to high intake of carbohydrates from unrefined sources.

• Low protein, but sufficient and mainly obtained from vegetable sources.

• Enough plant-based fats to meet 30% of energy needs.
• All meals for the day should be eaten within an 11-12 hour window, allowing for a daily fasting period.
• A 5-day cycle of fasting or a fast-mimicking diet every 3 to 4 months may also help reduce insulin resistance, blood pressure, and other risk factors for people with higher disease prevalence.

All of these dietary guidelines could be summed up as basing the diet on “lots of legumes, whole grains and vegetables, some fish, no red or processed meats and very little white meat, low-sugar and refined grains, good levels of nuts and oil olive oil, and some dark chocolate”, explains Longo.

“The longevity diet is not a dietary restriction intended only to cause weight loss, but a lifestyle focused on delaying aging”

The next step that the authors are going to carry out to corroborate their results is a study in 500 people from southern Italy, and it is that, according to what they explain, the longevity diet has similarities and differences with the diets that are followed in the Mediterranean area, which tend to have good levels of aging, places that include Sardinia, Italy, Okinawa, Japan and Loma Linda (California).

And it is that, in these areas, the most common diet in long-lived people is based mainly on plants or on pescetarian-type diets – vegetarians who also eat fish and shellfish – and is relatively low in protein. Longo has stressed that the longevity diet must be adapted to each person based on age, sex, health status and her genetics.

“The Longevity Diet is not a dietary restriction intended solely to cause weight loss, but a lifestyle focused on delaying aging, which can complement standard medical care and, if taken as a preventative measure, will help prevent morbidity and maintain health until old age”, Longo stressed.