New Study Reveals Health Benefits Of A Mediterranean Diet on Longevity
Updated February 16th 2022
If you want to boost your longevity the simple way, The Mediterranean Diet could add up to 13 years to your life according to a new study. The report, published in the journal PLOS Medicine, claims that a man eating a Mediterranean diet – often rich in the best olive oil – from age 20 could add 13 years to his life. If a woman began eating optimally at age 20, she could increase her lifespan by just over 10 years.
The study also claims that choosing an eating plan with the health benefits of The Mediterranean Diet could also extend the life expectancy of older adults.
As reported by CNN, by starting at age 60, a woman could still increase her lifespan by eight years. Men starting a healthier diet at age 60 might add nearly nine years to their lives. And the benefits don’t stop there!
A plant-based eating style, such as an olive oil rich Mediterranean Diet, could even benefit an older generation, with both men and women in their 80s potentially gaining about 3.5 years of extra life from dietary changes.
Reported on CNN, Dr. David Katz, a specialist in preventive and lifestyle medicine and nutrition, who was not involved in the study said: “The notion that improving diet quality would reduce the risk of chronic disease and premature death is long established, and it only stands to reason that less chronic disease and premature death means more life expectancy,”
Katz, the president and founder of the nonprofit True Health Initiative, a global coalition of experts dedicated to evidence-based lifestyle medicine, has published research on how to use food as preventive medicine.
“What they define as an ‘optimal’ diet is not quite optimal; it’s just a whole lot better than ‘typical,'” Katz said, adding that he felt diet could be “further improved, conferring even greater benefits.”
“My impression is that their ‘much improved’ diet still allowed for considerable doses of meat and dairy,” Katz said, adding that when his team scores diet quality objectively, “these elements are at quite low levels in the top tier.”
“My impression is that their ‘much improved’ diet still allowed for considerable doses of meat and dairy,” Katz said, adding that when his team scores diet quality objectively, “these elements are at quite low levels in the top tier.”
How Can The Best Olive Oil Contribute To A Healthy Lifestyle?
A healthy lifestyle is one which helps to keep and improve your health and well-being. There are many different things that you can do to live a healthy lifestyle, such as following the principals of the Mediterranean Diet.
The Mediterranean Diet is based on the regular consumption of olive oil (as the main source of monounsaturated fat), plant foods (cereals, fruits, vegetables, legumes, tree nuts, and seeds), the moderate consumption of fish, seafood, and dairy, and low-to-moderate alcohol (mostly red wine) intake, balanced by a comparatively limited use of red meat and other meat products. In addition, being physically active, maintaining a healthy weight, and managing your stress are important contributing factors to a healthy lifestyle. However, a healthy lifestyle isn’t just about healthy eating and exercise, it also about taking care of the “whole you” – your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being. And that means taking care of you from the inside out.
Extra Virgin Olive Oil And A Healthy Lifestyle Diet
A healthy lifestyle diet can be achieved by maintaining a daily intake of healthy foods like vegetables, fruits, nuts, whole grains, healthy (monounsaturated) fats like extra virgin olive oil, and omega-3 fatty acids. The key unhealthy foods to avoid are red and processed meats, sugar-sweetened beverages, trans fat, and sodium.
Healthy Lifestyle Benefits
As it turns out, healthy habits make a big difference. According to this analysis, people who met criteria for all five habits enjoyed significantly, impressively longer lives than those who had none: 14 years for women and 12 years for men (if they had these habits at age 50). People who had none of these habits were far more likely to die prematurely from cancer or cardiovascular disease.
Study investigators also calculated life expectancy by how many of these five healthy habits people had. Just one healthy habit (and it didn’t matter which one) … just one… extended life expectancy by two years in men and women. Not surprisingly, the more healthy habits people had, the longer their lifespan.
This is huge. And, it confirms prior similar research — a lot of prior similar research. A 2017 study using data from the Health and Retirement Study found that people 50 and older who were normal weight, had never smoked, and drank alcohol in moderation lived on average seven years longer. A 2012 mega-analysis of 15 international studies that included over 500,000 participants found that over half of premature deaths were due to unhealthy lifestyle factors. In summary these are poor diet, inactivity, obesity, excessive alcohol intake, and smoking. And the list of supporting research goes on.
Healthy Lifestyle Exercise
This was defined as at least 30 minutes per day of moderate to vigorous activity daily.
Healthy body weight
Defined as a normal body mass index (BMI), which is between 18.5 and 24.9.
Healthy Living & Smoking
There is no healthy amount of smoking. “Healthy” here meant never having smoked.
Healthy Living & alcohol intake
Measured as between 5 and 15 grams per day for women, and 5 to 30 grams per day for men. Generally, one drink contains about 14 grams of pure alcohol. That’s 12 ounces of regular beer, 5 ounces of wine, or 1.5 ounces of distilled spirits.
Researchers also looked at data on age, ethnicity, and medication use, as well as comparison data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys and the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention’s Wide-Ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research.
How Morocco Gold Extra Virgin Olive Oil Supports A Healthy Lifestyle
Extra Virgin Olive Oil is probably the most extensively researched foodstuff on the planet and it’s health benefits are evidence based. Extra virgin olive oil has an extensive list of phytonutrients; one of the most praised is its polyphenols. The amount of polyphenols found in extra virgin olive oil is truly amazing!
Types Of Polyphenols
There are a number of different types of polyphenols in Extra Virgin olive oil, including oleuropein, tyrosol, hydroxytyrosol, oleocanthal and oleacein. Each are considered extremely strong antioxidants, and are linked to a number of different benefits. For instance:
- Maintenance of normal blood pressure
- Keeping the upper respiratory tract healthy
- Protecting proteins in the brain that are involved in memory, learning and thinking
- Helping to keep blood sugar under control
- Treating the symptoms of and/or preventing type 2 diabetes
- Protecting blood lipids from oxidative damage
- Acting as an anti-inflamatory
The Healthiest Of Fats
According to the American Heart Association, dietary fats are an essential part of a healthy living diet, as fats provide energy, improve cell growth, absorption of nutrients, and create important hormones. Not only does olive oil consist mainly of healthy monounsaturated fats, but it is also the only fat that contains high levels of polyphenols. In conclusion this makes extra virgin olive oil without question the healthiest of all fats.