SHHH! Here's the secret to living longer...

These days, it seems that everyone is talking about longevity. There have been news reports of mega-rich tech titans doing crazy things in an effort to live longer, and it seems that every other podcast or health coach is hawking strategies to help you live longer and better. 

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Maybe there is some secret “Fountain of Youth”. Maybe Big Pharma will discover some new drug that resets our biological clock or slows the onset of cell death. Maybe it’s cold plunges or intermittent fasting.

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Or maybe there is an easier answer, staring us in the face. Instead of some special elixir or drug, maybe we can live longer (and healthier) by simply eating better.

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Certainly we have evidence that lifestyle determines health. And optimal lifestyles can lead to long life. Just look at people who live in “Blue Zones”. “Blue Zones” is a term coined by Dan Buettner, a researcher and journalist who chronicled the experiences of  populations who lived in areas of the world where people tended to live longer, and better, than anywhere else. His research has shown that there are commonalities between these healthy populations, even though their genetics and environments are very different. One of the common qualities of long-living groups is eating a predominantly plant-based diet.

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And so into this pop culture conversation about longevity comes a recent study that tried to quantify exactly how much longer you could live by changing your behavior and focusing on eating an ideal diet. This team modeled the potential longevity benefits that would arise by improving your diet. Specifically, the aim of their research was to estimate the potential increase in life expectancy in 7 culturally varied countries, spanning both high- and middle-income economies (China, France, Germany, Iran, Norway, the United Kingdom, and the United States) that would occur by moving from the “standard” diet of those countries to a vegan diet. 

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This evaluation used the most comprehensive meta-analyses with dose-response data that investigated associations between intakes of food groups and risk of all-cause mortality. They used those studies to model the impact of shifting from the typical dietary patterns that are standard in each of the countries to 3 different dietary strategies: a diet optimized for longevity, a diet with "feasible" improvements, and a vegan diet with a longevity emphasis.

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This research group had previously developed a validated tool that assessed the “typical” diet for that specific country, breaking down diets into 15 food group categories.

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They estimated the gain in life expectancy for each country when changing from a “standard” dietary pattern and looked at what the potential effect would be for 20-, 40- and 60-y-olds from the 7 countries.

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What they were able to show was that in the U.S, a 40 year old woman making a change from a standard american diet to an optimized vegan diet would be expected to gain 8.4 yrs of life. A 40 yr old male making the same change could expect an additional 8.7 yrs of life. 

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A 60 yo woman making that change would be expected to gain 6.7 yrs of life, while a 60 yo male would expect an additional 6.3 yrs of life.

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Eating more legumes, whole grains, and nuts, and eating less red meat and processed meats and sugar-sweetened beverages were projected to produce the biggest increases in life expectancy.

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Many people are not ready to make the change to a plant-based diet. But decades worth of evidence shows that it leads to better health, and now we know it also leads to experiencing that better health for much longer.  

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At Wisconsin Cardiology Associates, we counsel our patients to aim for a healthy, plant-based diet, emphasizing fruits, vegetables, beans, lentils, whole grains and nuts. Have questions about the best way you can prevent heart disease? Call us and make an appointment for a consultation.

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References:

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Fadnes LT et al. AJCN 120(1): pp170-177, July 2024

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Photo by Katarzyna Grabowska on Unsplash

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