The longevity diet works: it reduces biological age
Food is one of the pillars of active aging because what we eat can help us live not only healthier, but longer. A few years ago, Walter Longoone of the most recognized researchers on this topic, and Rosalyn Anderson, published in the journal Cell, Features of this diet.
Specifically, the authors explained that this type of diet is characterized by moderate to high intake of carbohydrates from unrefined sources. low protein but a sufficient amount of predominantly plant sources and sufficient amount of vegetable fats provide about 30% of energy needs.
“Need to regulate the amount of protein depending on age. The longevity diet for adults consists of plant foods, as well as fish a couple of times a week, and in the diet designed for children and people over 65, we included meat and other animal products, such as eggs. , cow’s milk, goat’s milk…,” Longo explains in the article.
That’s why recommends taking 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight per day.. “Consuming too much protein is associated with a high risk of developing a number of diseases, but a diet with insufficient levels of protein can cause problems with malnutrition,” he comments.
ABOUT Carbohydrates also stated: “We should consume plenty of low-glycemic index foods (legumes or vegetables), while reducing foods with too much starch (pasta, bread, pizza and potatoes) and sugar (fruit juice, muffins or drinks). sweet carbohydrates.”
When it comes to sugar, we should minimize the contribution of simple sugarsalthough there is no need to replace or eliminate sugar from coffee or tea.
From my side, fish consumption This should be done twice a week, and for anyone who tends to be overweight, experts recommend eating twice a day, what they call “pika-pika.” In practice, this means a 300 calorie breakfast, lunch or dinner and pica pica with a little sugar. The diet is completed with a daily intake of walnuts, almonds or hazelnuts.
Products plant origin and an abundance of olive oil are two other characteristics of this diet.
As for how long you should go between meals, Longo assures that 11 to 12 hours is best: “It is widely documented that for the same amount of calories consumed subjects eat within a 12-hour interval have a lower risk of obesity and metabolic disorders. These effects are due to the optimization of the rhythm of sleep and wakefulness, which, in turn, improves our metabolism. If we wake up early, breakfast can be delayed as much as possible to fit within this interval. For example, if dinner ends at 8:30 p.m., breakfast should be eaten around 8:30 a.m..”
In other words, the longevity diet is characterized by eating a lot of legumes, whole grains and vegetables, a small amount of fish, no red or processed meat, and very little white meat. Sugar and refined grains should be reduced as much as possible.conversely, you should consume plenty of nuts, olive oil and some dark chocolate.
Reduces our biological age
Now that we know what this diet consists of, it is important to know that the magazine Natural communications just published a very important study on this type of diet: It really rejuvenates the body in five days.
Longo also took part in this study and his findings only add to the benefits of this diet as they have proven that it can reduce signs of aging immune system, insulin resistance and liver fat in humans. In other words, our biological age decreases when we follow this diet.
To reach these conclusions, Longo and his team conducted clinical trial involving men and women aged 18 to 70 years. Participants, divided into groups, followed a fasting-mimicking diet for 3 or 4 monthly cycles of 5 days and a regular diet for 25 days.
The first type of diet consisted of vegetable soups, energy bars, energy drinks, potato chip snacks, tea and supplements that provide high levels of minerals, vitamins and essential fatty acids. The other group followed a Mediterranean or regular diet.
They subsequently took blood tests and the results provided the first evidence: those on the first diet had a lower risk of developing diabetes, lower insulin resistance and lower HbA1c results (blood test for type 2 diabetes and prediabetes).
In addition, they underwent an MRI, which revealed abdominal fat reduction, liver fat, and a lower risk of metabolic syndrome (metabolic syndrome is a group of conditions that put you at risk for developing heart disease and type 2 diabetes). And as for the immune system, their ratio of lymphoid to myeloid systems increased, which is an indicator that this system is younger.
And the result that received the most attention: the fasting-mimicking diet reduced the participants’ biological age by 2.5 years. “This study is the first to show biological age reduction tests The results of two different clinical studies were accompanied by signs of rejuvenation of metabolic and immune functions,” says Longo.
“This is the first study to show that a nutrition-based intervention (that does not require permanent diet or lifestyle changes) can biologically rejuvenate people. And it is based both on changes in risk factors for aging and disease, and on a proven method developed by Lewin’s group for estimating biological age,” explains Longo.
With these results, the team dared to say that this diet “may help people reduce their risk of disease and improve your health without making major lifestyle changes.