Book Review: The Longevity Diet

Next up for review is The Longevity Diet, by Valter Longo, PhD. The author is the Director of the Longevity Institute at University of Southern California. I recently heard him give a talk at the Harvard School of Public Health and was so impressed that I went out and bought his book.

Introduction

The main focus of this book is about increasing longevity. It contains nutrition, exercise and modified fasting tips based on the author’s research. The book is 317 pages. It is very well written and I enjoyed reading it.

5 Things I Really Liked About The Longevity Diet

1) In an effort to reduce conflict of interest, the author donates all of the proceeds of this book to charity. I think this is terrific.

2) The author does not promote fasting because of the side effects, including an increased risk of heart disease. I could not agree more. The research literature has shown some serious problems with fasting and our health.

3) I really like the discussion on glycemic index and glycemic load. He mentions that glycemic load is the more important of the two and I totally agree with this.

4) There is a really good section on the health and longevity benefits of cardiovascular exercise. This part of the book is really well done.

5) His longevity diet is largely based on a nice Mediterranean diet. The research has consistently shown that this is the best diet to reduce risk of chronic disease.

5 Things I Didn’t Agree With In The Longevity Diet

1) A major issue I have, and one the author freely admits, is that most of his research is in mice. There needs to be randomized trials in humans before you can really have confidence in a lot of these recommendations.

2) There were a few references in the text that did not lead to any searchable citations. For example, on page 67, the author cites his own study showing an increased risk of mortality with higher protein intakes. When you click on the reference, it just says “Levine et al and Longo, Low Protein Intake”. This happens several times throughout the text. I was hoping to find a full citation in a peer reviewed journal so I could read this study.

3) The author mentions that all protein increases risk of disease. I fully agree that red meat, full fat dairy and processed meat promote a variety of chronic diseases. However, seafood, chicken, turkey, and vegetable proteins like beans, nuts, and legumes have not been shown to increase risk of disease and don’t really need to be reduced in our diets. I have my clients shoot for about 20% of their diet to come from these healthy protein sources.

4) I thought the section on resistant training was a little light. This is a really important part of aging well and I think the recommendation could have been a bit more comprehensive.

5) In the text, the author mentions some really sound dietary recommendations very similar to the Mediterranean diet. At the end of the book there are some meal plans and things go a bit sideways.  The meals have an abundance of high glycemic load carbs, including: bread, jam, pasta, dried fruit, smoothies, bagels, potatoes, honey and pizza. 

Is The Longevity Diet Worth Reading?

Absolutely! This book provides a lot of solid and research-based advice to increase the odds that you will live longer and better. 

I think we need to see a bit more data on humans before the merits of modified fasting are confirmed, but this is definitely an interesting line of research.

I like most of the dietary recommendation in this book, I just think we should be a bit tighter on the high glycemic load carbs and that healthy source of protein don’t have to be quite as restricted.

 

Can I Have Butter Again?

Several popular fad diets are spreading the idea that saturated fats are not harmful and butter is a perfectly fine food to be included in your diet every day, if not every meal.

Is this a good idea? In a word, no! The idea that saturated fats are harmless is not based on solid nutrition research.

The nutrition literature has always shown, and continues to show, that saturated fat increases risk of heart disease and stroke, especially when compared to other more healthy options.

For example, in a large well designed cohort study out of Harvard that included over 125,000 men and women, replacing saturated fat with either polyunsaturated fat, monounsaturated fat or whole grains significantly reduce risk of heart disease (Reference 1).

In conclusion, don’t believe the hype. Vegetable sources of fat such as olive oil, canola oil, nuts, nut butters and avocados are a much healthier choice than butter.

References

1) Journal of the American College of Cardiology 2015 66:1538-48

Mediterranean Diet And Mortality

The Study

The research literature consistently shows that the Mediterranean diet is the most effective diet for reducing risk of chronic disease. In this interesting study, 25,315 women from the Women’s Health Study had their diet measured and were watched for 25 years.

Subjects following a Mediterranean diet had an 11% lower risk of dying from any cause when compared to subjects not following a Mediterranean diet.

JAMA Network Open. 2024;7(5):e2414322

Take Home Message

The fact that the Mediterranean diet reduced mortality in this investigation is really not a surprise, many studies have shown this. What makes this study special is that the researchers took 33 biomarkers from each subject at baseline in order to get some insight into just why this diet is so effective at reducing disease.

The biomarkers that were most different for those strictly following a Mediterranean diet showed a reduced insulin resistance, body mass index, triglycerides and inflammatory markers. These are likely the ways that a Mediterranean diet offers protection from chronic disease. 

A Mediterranean diet is high in fruits, vegetable, legumes, whole grains, poultry, seafood and nuts and low in refined carbs, sugar, red meat and processed meats. This is a great way to eat for your health.

 

Can Statins Prevent Cancer?

The Study

Chronic inflammation is known to be a major cause of cancer. A groundbreaking study out of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston was recently published that used both an animal model and an epidemiological study to show that statin drugs may block this inflammation and reduce the risk of developing cancer.

-In mice, a statin drug called Pitavastatin suppressed externally caused inflammation in the skin and pancreas and prevented inflammation dependent cancers.

-In humans, subjects taking Pitavastatin had a statistically significant reduced risk of pancreatic cancer. 

doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-48441-8

Take Home Message

Tens of millions of Americans are taking statins to lower their cholesterol and reduce their risk of heart disease and stroke. A surprising and beneficial side effect of these meds may be that they help reduce the risk of cancer. More research is needed here, but this is exciting news.

Can multivitamins slow cognitive decline?

The Study

Recent evidence suggests that multivitamin use may delay cognitive aging and decrease risk of age-related dementia. The COSMOS randomized controlled trial conducted by Harvard Medical School put this hypothesis to the test.

In this study, 5,203 subjects over the age of 60 took a daily multivitamin for 2 years and took a battery of memory tests. Compared to the placebo group, the subjects taking a multivitamin had a statistically significant improvement in global cognition and episodic memory. The researchers estimated that taking the multivitamin was equivalent to reducing cognitive aging by 2 years.

American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2024; 119:692-701

Take Home Message

The evidence is beginning to mount that taking a multivitamin has a positive impact on cognitive aging. Considering that they are inexpensive and have no negative side effects, it is not a bad idea to consider taking a multivitamin if you are older than 60.

Does being physically active attenuate the negative impact of sugar consumption?

The Study

Sugar sweetened beverages are known to have an adverse impact on cardiovascular health. A group of researchers at Harvard University wondered if being physically active reduced these negative effects. 

In this investigation, 65,730 women from the Nurses’ Health Study and 39,418 men from the Health Professional Follow-up Study had their sugar consumption and physical activity levels followed for 30 years.

The results were interesting:

-When looking at all subjects, those that consumed 2 or more sugar sweetened beverages per day had a 21% higher risk of cardiovascular disease when compared to those that never drank them.

-There was no association between diet beverage consumption and risk of cardiovascular disease.

-Participants meeting physical activity guidelines (greater than 7.5 MET hours per week) had no reduced risk when compared to subjects that did not meet physical activity guidelines (less than 7.5 MET hours per week).

American Journal Of Clinical Nutrition 2024; 119:669-681

Take Home Message

Whether you are physically active or not, it is a good idea to strictly limit sugar sweetened beverages.

Carbohydrates And Body Weight

In the 80’s and 90’s, dietary fat was the major focus of most weight loss strategies. Starting in the early 2000’s, the research literature started to show that carbohydrates were also important in weight maintenance. Most current fad diets manipulate the amount or type of carbohydrate permitted in some way. 

Harvard University’s Department of Nutrition recently published an impressive study examining the weight loss impact of different type of carbohydrate foods over a 24 year follow-up.

The Study

In this investigation, 136,432 men and women from Harvard’s Nurses’ Health Study, Nurses’ Health Study 2 and Health Professional Follow-up study had their 4 year weight change and diet measured for 24 years (Reference 1). 

The results were very interesting: (As a reference, 100 grams is just less than ½ of a cup)

-An increase in glycemic index and glycemic load were positively associated with weight gain.

-A 100 gram per day increase in added sugar resulted in a 4 year weight gain of 2 lbs.

-A 100 gram per day increase in refined grains resulted in a 4 year weight gain of 1.8 lbs.

-A 100 gram per day increase in potatoes and other starchy vegetables resulted in a 4 year weight gain of 5.7 lbs.

-A 100 gram per day increase in whole grains resulted in a 4 year weight loss of .9 lbs.

-A 100 gram per day increase in fruit resulted in a 4 year weight loss of 3.5 lbs.

-A 100 gram per day increase in non-starchy vegetable resulted in a 4 year weight loss of 6.6 lbs.

Conclusions And Recommendations

If you are trying to control your weight, you need to pay close attention to the type of carbs on your plate. However, there is no need to completely eliminate them. Carbohydrate foods are our best sources of fiber, vitamins, minerals and cancer fighting phytochemicals.

Focus on fruits, vegetables, legumes (beans and lentils) and whole grains (brown rice, quinoa and oatmeal).

Limit sugar, potatoes and refined grains like white rice, bread and pasta.

References

1) Wan Y, et al. Association between changes in carbohydrate intake and long-term weight changes: Prospective cohort study. British Medical Journal 2023; 382:e073939.