i was working on nutrition homework and started wondering this. are there actually foods that increase your life span? or do these foods just have a lower rate of decreasing life span? i’m a nutrition major in my second year, so i understand how the foods that decrease our life span do so, but never really understood how any food could increase life span. feel free to link articles and studies i’m genuinely curious and love learning!
Beans! Agh I can’t remember what the study was called, I’m not confident I’ll be able to find it (I’ll eta if I do) but iirc, they noticed first generation Hispanic immigrants who continued cooking/eating foods from where they emigrated were living significantly longer than their Hispanic children and relatives who switched to a standard American diet. Granted, the SAD (lol ig it is pretty sad) doesn’t do anyone any favors, but there’s strong evidence to suggest beans/legumes were one of the biggest factors in large part thanks to the prebiotics, which feed probiotics in our guts.
ETA: okay so it’s called the Hispanic/Latino paradox, and looking into it again, it’s much more nuanced than just diet, however it seems to have some evidence to support more plant-based eating, which at the time I was introduced to the “paradox” it was from a plant based dr as I was plant based at the time. Hispanic Paradox
hindus believe gotu kola does. and why some gurus live 100+. In China, known as gotu kola, it is one of the reported “miracle elixirs of life” known over 2000 years
it’s a tropical ‘herb’ as in very tiny plant, but can grow in mass quantities. I find it all over Florida in the wild. you can buy it as a supplement. it is considered to have numerous health benefits. it’s an adaptogen, like ashwagandha, which means it boost your resistance to and tolerance of stress-emotional and physical. it was explained to me that it can treat so many things, not just one like many herbs. it finds what your body needs and goes there.
“protection to DNA and membranes against the deleterious effects of ionizing radiation exposure, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory activity, protection against glutamate- or beta-amyloid-induced neurotoxicity, cartilage protective activity, selectively decreases amyloid beta levels in hippocampus and enhancement of dendritic arborisation, positive modulation of cognition and mood in the healthy elderly volunteers, treatment of mild-to-moderate atopic dermatitis, and wound healing ability.”
https://doshaguru.com/gotukola/
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“Throughout history, Gotu Kola has been referred to as a rasayana (rasayana = rejuvenative measures that impart biological sustenance to bodily tissues) used to revitalize brain and nervous system function and combat the effects of aging. Several folklore legends give Gotu Kola partial credit for claims of longevity and stamina. One famous one involves Li Ching-Yun, who is recorded to have lived to the unbelievable age of 256)”
http://ayurveda.alandiashram.org/ayurvedic-herbs/gotu-kola-centella-asiatica
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for the science-y types
“The primary active constituents of CA are saponins (also called triterpenoids), which include asiaticosides, in which a trisaccharide moiety is linked to the aglycone asiatic acid, madecassoside and madasiatic acid[13]. These triterpene saponins and their sapogenins are mainly responsible for the wound healing and vascular effects by inhibiting the production of collagen at the wound site.”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3116297/
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and ancient science
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jamician Rastafarians also use it medicinally.
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and as contraception!
https://www.utep.edu/herbal-safety/herbal-facts/herbal%20facts%20sheet/gotu-kola.html
You can never prove a food increases life span because you can’t repeat the experiment without it.
Since we can’t know how long you are supposed to live without the magical foods, we can’t say if eating them increased anything either.
To answer your question, you need to understand how aging works, and why we eventually die. In short, there’s a buildup of transcription errors in our DNA during cell replication, made worse by many factors , including free radicals for instance.
If a food has certain chemicals to reduce the statistical error rate of this process, then it lowers the frequency of errors, but as we know so far, nothing can prevent them entirely, and so it will happen eventually.
So the answer to your question is that certain chemicals could exist (such as antioxidants) which remove free radicals and slow down the aging process somewhat.
Increases and decreases in life span are invalid concepts here because they don’t make sense.
I am sure that many do in different ways, but it would be hard to measure. Perhaps if they kept sets of twins in a lab and then studied it over a couple of centuries.
We do know that intermittent fasting increases lifespan, though. It’s not always about what you eat but how much, and when.
A Mediterranean diet is probably the best route you can follow, I remember reading those in Spain had one of the highest life expectancies in the world
Diet high in monounsaturated fats, omega 3 and protein is probably the best way to go, you should also reduce your intake of sugars and refined carbohydrates and opt for more complex carbs, think whole grain rice/pasta, beans etc.
Getting sufficient sun exposure to produce vitamin D is also a factor, depending where you live you may have to supplement this, but you can’t beat the real thing.
People who base their diet upon the Mediterranean diet have been found to live long, healthy lives. Spread the word. https://edition.cnn.com/2022/01/04/health/mediterranean-diet-2022-best-diet-wellness/index.html
Check out Dr David Sinclair and his research on reversing aging. He has a great podcast.
He mentions certain supplements that can reduce aging in his podcast. Obviously glucose is the biggest food to avoid if you want to live longer.
I’ve read a little bit on this recently. Allegedly, drinking coffee regularly is tied to extended longevity - so is olive oil consumption. I’m not certain about these ones but I’ve also heard that extremely dark chocolates and some sort of wine (although I don’t remember which kind) are also correlated with long life. Also, if you have balls cut them off. Adds 14 years on average to your lifespan according to one of my local radio hosts.
Ok im no expert so feel free to correct me:
Besides diseases the main reason why die ist because our organs fail.
They have a limit to how much they can age and regenerate.
How fast we are aging has alot of factors, i think “free radicals”(not sure if that word exists in english) are a big factor for cell aging and stuff like that.
Smoking, Stress, Obesity, Alcohol, Physical activity over a certain level and much more create them.
But there is food that reduces/absorbs them and food that even increases them.
Vitamin A/C/E/B2, Zink, Copper and Taurin are the micros in my last that have effects on that.
(My List is selfmade and i didnt spend years researching.)
So f.e. Vitamine A protects your body against free radicals while Taurin binds them and Vitamine E strengthens your cell membrane…
For Vitamine A: Animal Products and stuff that provides ß-Carotin like Carrots and tomatoes and everything colored in an intensive green (propably many more).
Vitamine C: Bell Pepper, Brokkoli, Lemon/orange etc.
Vitamine E: plant oils: olive oil, nuts, grains
Vitamine B2: Milk, Whole Grains, Meat
Zink: Milk, Meat
Copper: Fish, Nuts, Seeds
Taurin: Meat
Let’s get some sources in here, please. Add a linked food under this comment and let’s see what we find:
Well you can look into Dr. Valter Longo’s research about fasting, diet and longevity.
He’s the one who discovered that starving yeast makes them live twice as long I believe.
And he also does research on the kinds of diet that increase lifespan or healthspan
In short, no.
There is no one food that can increase lifespan. “Superfoods” have been labelled that way so people can sell them at silly prices, or in supplement format.
If you group foods together, for example fruits and vegetables, then you could argue that eating an abundance of these can be part of a healthy diet. Do they increase lifespan? Well that is something that is incredibly hard to measure.
Heard of Dan Buettner? He studied the nutrition and lifestyles of people living in “Blue zones” around the world. They have some things in common and I would argue that they live long lives due a number of nutrition and lifestyle choices. Well worth a read.
That said, I believe you can eat and drink the best diet in the world and still die young of something. I do also believe that you give yourself a better chance of health if you do eat well.
Good luck with your homework.