LONGEVITY ON THE PLATE

THE OPTIMAL DIET

TO GAIN 10 YEARS OF LIFE

Researchers at the University of Bergen (Norway) have developed an “optimal diet”. inspired by Mediterranean cuisine and the diet of the blue zones (countries where the longevity of the inhabitants is above the average), To do this they compared the latter to the typical Western diet, that is- that is, rich in meats and processed products.

And what did they discover ? 

That the transition to their healthier diet allowed to gain 10.7 years of life expectancy for women and 13 years for men. So it's up to us to abandon processed and fatty foods as soon as possible!

Opt for legumes.

For this research published in the journal PLOS Medicine in February 2022, scientists analyzed data from the Global Burden of Disease study which brings together thousands of participants from 204 countries. They found that eating more vegetables increased life expectancy by 2.3 years in both sexes.

Furthermore, the earlier a person adopts a healthy diet, the greater the gains in longevity. If a woman starts at age 20, she could gain up to 10.7 years of life according to the study's calculations. The gain is greater in men: 13 years.

Adopt the "optimal diet" at age 80 and you can still hope to benefit from 3.4 years of additional life expectancy! But the sooner the better !