Diet, Longevity and Quality of Life

Longevity is the gold standard for evaluating diet and other lifestyle choices since there are strong correlations between longevity, overall health and quality of day-to-day life. According to researchers at the New England Centenarian Study “The older you are, the healthier you’ve been. “ Studies of long-lived Adventists confirm this. Most who live into their late 80’s and beyond have compressed end of life morbidity (morbidity defined as significant sicknesses.) The argument “I don’t care how long I live; I just want to enjoy life” doesn’t work since enjoying life with decades of painful and expensive chronic illnesses is very difficult. Using longevity to compare different dietary choices is much simpler and more accurate than using other parameters like weight, blood sugar, or cholesterol. Normal blood sugar is no consolation to a diabetic who dies prematurely after several years of living paralyzed by a stroke or dialysis due to chronic kidney disease.

Many advocates of different diets and medications use weight, blood sugar or serum cholesterol results to support their choice. Using longevity is simpler and much more accurate. Longevity studies are unequivocal. The only diets associated with longevity are those consisting mainly or entirely of whole plant foods. Nutrition experts debate how much fish, lean white meats or non-fat dairy should be included but agree that an optimal diet is filled with whole grains and other unrefined starches, vegetables, legumes, fruits, seeds and nuts. The bulk of calories should come from unrefined starches, not fat and protein as it is in the typical American diet.

Several excellent studies confirmed the value of this type diet in China, Okinawa, and the Mediterranean area. Since many Adventists are vegetarian or vegan the diets of Adventists in southern California have been the subject of hundreds of scientific studies. These studies confirm that the fewer animal products in the diet, the longer you live and the healthier you are. It is not the climate or some other variable in the Mediterranean area, China or Okinawa, it’s the food!

The New England Centenarian Study has examined characteristics of long-lived people and concluded that most people can live into their late 80’s through a healthy life style that includes not smoking and a diet that is mainly whole plant foods. Genetics determines who will live past that age. Some reach very old age in spite of poor life style but these people are rare exceptions with unusual genetics. Even those with good genes usually need a healthy life style to reach 100 or more.