Nutritional scientist Dr Federica Amati has explained how people can add 10 years to their lives – it they make a simple lifestyle change. Appearing on the Middleman Podcast, the author of author of Every Body Should Know This and head nutritionist at Zoe, the health science company founded by Tim Spector, said that people need to be looking at their diets as early as possible.
She explained that health service impromenets mean people can live longer – but what people actually eat is neglected. And she advised that people over the age of 40 need to try to change – and even in their 60s can add a decade to their lives.
Dr Federica said: “We’re now at a place where modern medicine and hygiene practises mean we live longer. And the missing piece now is our nutrition, so unfortunately, As our hygiene and medicine have evolved, actually our food environment has got worse, so. the majority of us are going to die from diet-related chronic diseases now.
”So having a poor diet is the biggest risk factor that there is for for an early death. And that’s quite a big statement. Like that’s quite a big deal. So even up to 30 years ago, smoking was still killing more people. So people were smoking, a lot of early deaths were due to smoking. Now thankfully that has started to change, but it’s left us wide open to notice just the fact that dire related diseases are what’s killing most of us. So it’s a really urgent time for nutrition to take centre stage.
“If you’ve been eating a poor diet and you switch it up in your 40s, 50s or 60s, you can gain a decade on your life! That’s a huge amount!” Speaking previously Dr Amati has said that if people change their diets at the age of 40 it can have a profound impact.
She explained that if people change to follow what is basically a Mediterranean-style diet: ”So add more fruits, more vegetables, more legumes, more nuts, more seeds. And then it shoots up to adding 10 to 11 years to your life at age 40. But that study also looked at what happens if you do the same at age 70. 40 is not a magic number, right. You could add up to 11 years to your life at age 40 but you can add up to six years to your life at age 70 now, of course, this is a modelling study, but it conceptualises and it shows us the impact which diet is likely to have.”
She said as people get older they become less efficient at absorbing nutrients and they also utilizing them. She said: ”Typically, we become more insulin resistant. And insulin is this hormone, which is really important for the uptake of all nutrients into cells, which is why there’s a recommendation for more protein for older adults. Now, what I will say is this increase is minimal. We’re talking about from 0.83 g per kilogram of body weight, maybe up to 1 g per kilogram with older people.
“If they become malnourished, if they become dehydrated, it’s a much more severe effect. So make sure that every meal opportunity for the older person in your life, if that’s you has a really good source of plant protein in it, or perhaps it’s eggs every now and then or perhaps it’s oily fish, but really embracing nutrient-dense foods, making like these really delicious soups and stews with beans and lentils and whole grains and making the most of these foods that we know are brilliant at nourishing us and they are naturally hydrating, can really help someone’s quality of life.”