Longevity is basically how long and how healthy your life is. You could live till you are 100, but would you rather live that long and have poor health, or would you rather live till your 80’s or 90’s and be as fit as a fiddle the whole way through? Ageing is a natural process that is genetically determined and environmentally modulated. What you can do is make good choices when it comes to your diet and lifestyle to ensure you’re living your best life!
Looking after your gut microbiome
Ensuring you look after your gut microbiome is the most critical step in ageing gracefully. All those trillions of microbes need to be fed and looked after so they can care for you from the inside out. A healthy and balanced gut microbiome will reduce chronic inflammation, ensure good metabolic health, strengthen immune function, and give you hope for a long, healthy life.
What harms and what helps our gut microbiome
Two things that we want to avoid are inflammation and oxidative stress. Our gut microbiome can help with this. They can control inflammation by producing Short Chain Fatty Acids (SCFA) such as butyrate, which are anti-inflammatory and reduce inflammation. The gut microbes that produce SCFA consume dietary fibre and resistant starch from wholegrain foods, fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and legumes. SCFA also enhances insulin sensitivity, which reduces your risk of Type 2 Diabetes and benefits body weight and lipid metabolism.
The leading cause of death worldwide is heart disease. Although you can inherit genes that cause heart disease and these will increase your risk of developing it, Diet and lifestyle are the main factors involved in the development of heart disease. Another way in which our gut microbiome can either cause or prevent metabolic diseases like heart disease, type 2 Diabetes, and obesity is through the production of trimethylamine-N-oxidide (TMAO). So, this sounds like a very complicated word, but I will break it down.
When we eat foods containing choline and carnitine, like red meat, eggs, and dairy, certain microbes in the gut produce something called trimethylamine (TMA). When TMA hits the bloodstream, it is converted into TMAO. TMAO is associated with the build-up of cholesterol in the arteries, increased inflammation and impaired cholesterol metabolism. But don’t worry! This doesn’t mean you can never eat a juicy steak, a tasty omelette, or a cheesy pizza again. Your gut microbiota determines how much TMA you produce, so eating those foods occasionally is okay if it is balanced and healthy. Red meat should be consumed no more than twice a week; eggs are okay if you aren’t eating 3 or 4 every day, and dairy in small amounts would be okay too. Just as long as your diet is based on plant foods and non-red meat protein sources like fish and chicken, tofu, and legumes.
Gut health and immunity
Another element crucial to longevity is immune health. If you constantly get infections and illnesses, it is difficult for your body to cope with them for a long time. Your gut microbiome and immune system are closely linked, so if you have a health-balanced gut microbiome, you will have a strong immune system that is ready and ready to fight off harmful bacteria that will make you sick.
If you look at some countries with the highest longevity and their diets, you can see they are gut-healthy diets. The Japanese diet contains loads of fresh fish, which is a healthy source of protein, and in oily fish like salmon, tuna, and mackerel, you will get omega-3 fatty acids, which are good for anti-inflammatory effects. It also contains loads of fresh fruit and veg, carbohydrates and fermented soy foods like miso, soy sauce, rice vinegar, soybeans (natto), pickles (tsukemono) and dried bonito (katsuobushi). Fermented foods are great for our gut. Other fermented foods you could try are kimchi, kombucha and homemade yoghurt. All of these are easy to make at home, and because they are fermented, they have a long shelf life without having a load of preservatives.
The Nordic diet is also good. It consists of loads of fresh fish (omega 3), fresh fruit and veg and wholegrains such as dark rye bread.
Of course, there is the vibrant Mediterranean diet, which is full of fresh fruit and vegetables, herbs and spices, seafood, and olive oil, which is a source of omega-3.
All these diets have one thing in common: the show’s star is always plant-based foods. Animal products like meat, poultry, fish, eggs, and dairy are available in smaller amounts.
Basically, if you give your gut microbiome what it needs to be healthy, you can enjoy treats that have harmful side effects.
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References
1. Wang Z, Klipfell E, Bennett BJ, Koeth R, Levison BS, DuGar B, et al. Gut flora metabolism of phosphatidylcholine promotes cardiovascular disease. Nature. 2011;472(7341):57-63.
2. Tang WH, Wang Z, Levison BS, Koeth RA, Britt EB, Fu X, et al. Intestinal microbial metabolism of phosphatidylcholine and cardiovascular risk. N Engl J Med. 2013;368(17):1575-84.
3. Badal VD, Vaccariello ED, Murray ER, Yu KE, Knight R, Jeste DV, Nguyen TT. The gut microbiome, aging, and longevity: a systematic review. Nutrients. 2020;12(12):3759.
4. https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/healthiest-countries