It is the billion-dollar question. What are the best foods for longevity? What lifestyle choices will increase my chance of a longer life? Are any supplements proven to work to increase lifespan? Here are the top ways that research has demonstrated potential longevity returns.

1. Community

The book The Blue Zones looked at clusters of people living over 100, and one of the biggest common denominators was the strong community in each location.

The power of community is hard to measure due to a complex interaction between our neurotransmitters, sense of belonging, purpose, and reduction of stress. To read some fascinating examples, please see this article: Inspiring Effect of Community on Health.

2. Skip a meal once and a while or eat within a 9-12 hour window each day

Most of us will not realistically be able to stick to a caloric restricted diet indefinitely.  But we can rejoice and reap some of the benefits of calorie restriction by intermittently fasting or by condensing our eating window to 9-12 hours each day, with the latter being the easiest to implement and stick to.

Try to eat or drink your last stint of calories no later than 8 pm each night and hold off on anything that requires metabolizing (that includes coffee with caffeine) until 8 am the next day.  This will give you 12 hours of fasting for your body to repair and regenerate.

3. Take a cold shower or (if you are up to it) a cold bath, and hit the sauna

Some studies have shown with mice that as few as 2 exposures to cold each week (we are talking about ~50F bath for 15-20mins) promote health benefits that persist in the body for multiple weeks after the cold exposure discontinues. Heat exposure in saunas causes the body to release heat shock proteins (HSP), which offer many benefits. After one exposure, HSP remains elevated in the body for around 48 hours.

With that, we suspect 2-3 times a week may be a sufficient dose and an approach that is easy to maintain. Remember, pay attention to your body and do not overdo it.  We do not recommend “stacking” these stressors, although a cool shower after a sauna may be necessary to cool the body down more quickly so we can return to daily life without sweating profusely.

Follow up the sauna with your favorite electrolyte drink. This also helps replenish the minerals lots through sweating. Try to stay away from cold therapy right after weight training, since it may blunt the beneficial muscle-building inflammatory response.

Our recommendation is to focus on heat in the warm months and cold in the winter months.  This more closely mimics the environmental thermal stressors we would have experienced naturally in the past, and also improves our acclimation to those seasons, making outdoor activities more enjoyable (less sweating and overheating in summer and less shivering and chills in the winter!).

4. Exercise: mix it up between aerobic activities and high-intensity training

We pretty much always hear good things about exercise.  The advice here is to mix it up and rotate between endurance (aerobic) type activities like jogging and muscle building high-intensity interval training.  They have both shown enormous health benefits but target different pathways and mechanisms in the body. Again, do not forget to rest.  Going for a walk or hike in nature counts too.

5. Take up yoga and meditation

In addition to reducing inflammation by inhibiting the NF-kB pathway, yoga and meditation also reduce phycological stress in studies.  Meditation even enhances grey matter in the brain. A good strategy would be to slip in these de-stressing activates between other stressors like exercise or do them on alternating days. Yoga, deep breathing techniques, Qi Gong, and mindfulness are examples that would fit this category.

6. The best foods for longevity: diversity

Before we dive into all things phytochemicals, we need to first remind you again of the importance of vitamins and minerals.  Cells, genes, and enzymes need these macro and micronutrients, trace minerals and essential minerals to undertake their complex and essential activities in the body.  We all need to ensure we are getting adequate intake of hard-to-get minerals and vitamins such as Magnesium, Vitamin D,  B-vitamins, Vitamin C, choline, trace minerals (e.g. Boron, Lithium), Selenium, and Zinc.

Recall:  22% of all enzymes require a micronutrient to function (67). Eating a diet rich in phytochemicals is a must, and with conflicting research around supplementing with anti-aging compounds in isolation, a food first strategy is our recommendation.  Aim to increase your intake of a diverse variety of vegetables, fruits, herbs, and spices.

Many foods that are rich in polyphenols tend to have anti-inflammatory effects and also contain many of the compounds identified above.  Some polyphenol-rich foods are:

If you do a quick search on the internet for these foods, you will notice that Black cumin (nigella sativa) seed oil is touted as a miracle health food.  This may be a stretch from the truth but it does offer some impressive health benefits.

In vivo treatment with black cumin seed oil exerts an insulin-sensitizing action and has also been shown to activate AMPK. Black cumin seed oil contains a phytochemical called thymoquinone, which protects the liver from injury, boosts our bodies master antioxidants glutathione and superoxide dismutase, and inhibits NF-kB activity (94)

Polyphenols can also affect other pathways such as COMT in a negative way.  Catechins are especially troubling for slow COMT, which you will find a ton of in teas (especially green tea), coffee and chocolate; and concentrated berry/grape products such as red wine.

In addition, if you are a slow metabolizer of caffeine, tea and coffee may cause more harm than good.  Fortunately, there are some high-quality decaffeinated varieties available if you still choose to consume these products for their polyphenols.

For tea and coffee, consider the Nutrition Genome Report to identify if your COMT gene needs some extra attention and if caffeine is your friend or foe.

Polyphenols get most of the attention when it comes to health-promoting plant phytochemicals, but terpenes are also very important to consume.  They are especially good at inhibiting the NF-kB pathway and keeping chronic inflammation low (95).  Here are some Terpenoid rich foods (96):

• Monoterpenes: Lemons, oranges, grapefruit, caraway, bergamot, peppermint, spearmint, dill, tomatoes
• Diterpenes: Carrots, spinach, pumpkin, broccoli, mango, papaya, cherries, tomatoes, oranges, cabbage, watermelon, lettuce
• Triterpenoids: Olives, mangos, strawberries, grapes, figs
• Terpenoid chromanols: Almonds, walnuts
• Carotenoids: Tomatoes, oranges, carrots, peas, sprouts, greens

Research suggests that for reducing inflammation and for inhibiting the NF-kB pathway, Triterpenoids may be the most beneficial.  Many herbs and mushrooms are high in these compounds including reishi mushroom, ashwagandha, ginseng and boswelia (97).

Reishi mushroom is especially rich in triterpenes; containing more than 100 different types, with 50 of these being new and unique to this mushroom (98).

Another notable mushroom with anti-aging properties is Cordyceps.  Cordyceps enhances the activity of AMPK while also assisting with the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis (HPA axis) balance and anti-cancer activity. Its ability to activate AMPK is believed to be one of its anti-aging components in the body, along with its anti-diabetic effects.

Cordyceps also inhibit intracellular lipid accumulation and the militaris variety induces fatigue recovery.  These results are primarily attributed to activating AMPK, targeting mTOR pathways and regulating serum hormone level (99). Some additional foods that are colloquially known as “anti-inflammatory” are:

An honorable mention goes to the Isothiocyanate phytochemical class and the specific potential of sulforaphane.  Sulforaphane offers a lot of promise since it helps the liver with detoxification, acts as an antioxidant, offer broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity and is a power anti-inflammatory.

Sulforaphane seems to hold promise in the prevention and treatment of nearly all age-related diseases including, but not limited to, cancer, cardiovascular disease, inflammation, dermatitis, cognitive decline, and blood vessel health (100).

Studies show that sulforaphane significantly reduces the activity of NF-kB, so eat your broccoli sprouts (101)! Depending on your gut health, you may also want to consider a probiotic supplement since consuming them activates SIRT and inhibits NF-kB.  Probiotics and a proper gut lining and microbiome play an important role in managing inflammation (102) (103).

7. Sleep, circadian rhythm, and sun

We all know intuitively sleep is important.  It is great that science has verified this intuition, and demonstrated that it effectively and beneficially targets anti-aging pathways.  We recommend that you keep a routine with sleep (bedtime and wake time) and try not to deviate from it by more than 2 hours on the weekend.

It is also important to expose yourself to bright blue (short wavelength) light during the day to ensure melatonin and cortisol are following the proper circadian rhythm dance. It may also be important to aid your body in boosting melatonin levels at night.  This can be done with the consumption of foods that contain melatonin such as wine, cherries, and berries.

Please note that alcohol affects sleep (especially deep sleep), so if you chose to consume it do so with quantities that boost PON1 activity, with your dinner meal and ideally 3-4 hours prior to bedtime.

That same blue light that we want exposure to during the day is detrimental to our circadian rhythm if we are exposed to it after sunset.  Try to limit “screen time” since most devices emit blue light.  If you are on devices or watching TV in the evening, it has been shown that wearing short-wavelength blocking glasses increases nighttime melatonin levels by 58% compared to carrying out the same digital routine in the evening without the glasses (104).

We recommend staying away from melatonin supplements since they can cause dependency and reduce the body’s natural production of this important hormone. Getting adequate sunshine not only enhances our mood but creates Vitamin D and boosts nitric oxide production which activates AMPK.

As a rule of thumb, if your shadow is longer than you are tall, you are not producing Vitamin D from the sun.  Blood Vitamin D levels should be measured to ensure they are in the optimal range and Vitamin D supplementation may be necessary.

As with other recommendations in this article, do not overdo it with the sun since overexposure to the sun can accelerate skin aging, cause sunburns, increase inflammation and increase skin cancer risk.

The Top Supplements for Longevity

In addition to eating a diet rich in the above-mentioned foods, and employing the lifestyle changes recommended herein, some may wish to supplement to take their anti-aging regime to the next level.

Below is a list of the top whole spectrum extracts or whole food supplements that may possibly improve your longevity game.

The supplements listed below have also been chosen because they offer many other health benefits, in addition to targeting anti-aging pathways.

1. Organic Supergreens (15% off with this link): Read here why to choose a greens powder without cereal grasses, and how getting these 23 superfoods is one of the easiest ways to invest in your health.

2. Organ Meat Complex (15% off with this link): Read here about how organ meats contributed to a reduction of biological age by 3.23 years.

3. Turmeric Complex: Read more about how turmeric works as an anti-depressant here.

4. Black Cumin Seed Oil: Black cumin seed oil contains a unique phytochemical called thymoquinone, which protects the liver from injury, boosts our bodies master antioxidants glutathione and superoxide dismutase, and inhibits NF-kB activity. This is a powerful way to target the major longevity pathways.

5. Real Mushrooms Cordyceps Militaris and Real Mushrooms Reishi: Both mushrooms have some of the highest potential for targeting longevity pathways.

6. Lifeforce Magnesium: Read here about how the longest living people have the highest magnesium levels, and why this magnesium supplement took the #1 spot.

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If there is one health-related topic that we can agree on, it is that we all want to live longer. Anti-aging research has progressed to a respectable point where we can draw on science to employ lifestyle, diet and supplement interventions that promote longevity. 

While it may be unknown how much longer we can extend our lives with these tactics, we can be reassured that taking many of these steps will, at a minimum, enhance our quality of life.  Notwithstanding, there are still more unanswered questions in this field of research than answered ones.

The 9 Hallmarks of Aging include: genomic instability, telomere attrition, epigenetic alterations, loss of proteostasis, deregulated nutrient-sensing, mitochondrial dysfunction, cellular senescence, stem cell exhaustion, and altered intercellular communication.

There are 4 major associated pathways that we know from research that we can target with the hope of adding a decade or two to our lifespan.

These include:

• mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR);
• adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK);
• silent information regulators (SIR) or sirtuins;
• nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-kB).

The focus of this article is to demystify these pathways, and demonstrate lifestyle and diet choices that most effectively target these pathways in a synergistic manner, so you can save time and money. 

As you will find out below, exercise, fasting, a polyphenol/ phytochemical-rich diet, cold and hot stress, are our best bets for living longer and healthier until more and better research comes in.

Anti-Aging Research on mTOR

mTOR is a cellular pathway that acts as a signaling controller for cell growth and lifespan, metabolism, and propagation (2). The mTOR pathway regulates processes that convert or utilize energy and nutrients.

Essentially, mTOR reacts to nutrients and calories in determining if times are plentiful or stressful; mTOR ramps up if energy and nutrients are in abundance and ramps down in times of stress, such as in caloric restriction (3).

Dysfunctional mTOR controlling prompts several detrimental cellular actions, such as those correlated with multiple types of cancers (4). 

Overactivation of mTOR is linked to many aging-related diseases and conditions, therefore approaches to lower or normalize its activity are a prudent way to proactively promote cellular longevity (5). 

mTOR Strategy

Exercise activates mTOR the desired way, by increasing activity primarily in the muscles and brain (6).  Generally speaking, increasing AMPK will inhibit mTOR and a supplemental way to do this is with Cordyceps mushroom, a product I have taken every day for the last fifteen years.

The primary way to inhibit the mTOR pathway is through caloric restriction (CR).  Supplements and food compounds that target this pathway in a similar manner to CR are considered caloric restriction mimetics.  Food sources should be pursued at this time since there has been lack of human studies affirming the anti-aging potential of many of these compounds.

Best mTOR inhibitors:

• Calorie restriction (7)
• Plant phytochemicals including polyphenols, terpenes and glucosinolates / isothiocyanates (e.g. resveratrol, pterostilbene, quercetin, curcumin, anthocyanins, sulforaphane, thymoquinone and catechins like epigallocatechin gallate) (8) (9)

Anti-Aging Research on AMPK

AMPK is a cellular energy controller that adjusts how and by which our body utilizes and converts energy.  AMPK levels decrease as we age.  Higher levels of AMPK guard our bodies against diabetes, obesity, and accelerated aging (10).

Studies show that increased AMPK activity is linked to an increased lifespan by up to 20%.  Increased AMPK has been found to reduce multiple markers of aging including body-fat, blood sugar, blood lipid levels, and inflammation (10) (11) (12).   Activating AMPK also protects against dementia, memory impartment and hypertension (13) (14) (15).

AMPK Strategy

• Calorie restriction(16)
• Exercise(17) (18)
• Reducing inflammation(19)
• Cold and heat stress(20) (21) (22)
• Cordyceps and plant phytochemicals including polyphenols, terpenes and glucosinolates / isothiocyanates (e.g. resveratrol, pterostilbene, quercetin, curcumin, anthocyanins, sulforaphane, thymoquinone and catechins like epigallocatechin gallate)(23) (24)
• Trace minerals including lithium, boron; minerals such as zinc and selenium; and Vitamin C (25)(26)

Anti-Aging Research on SIRT

Sirtuins work amongst many cellular pathways that control apoptosis (programmed cell death), turn anti-aging genes on and off, help repair DNA and regulate metabolism.

SIRT also plays an important role in blood sugar control and insulin sensitivity (27) (28) (29).  SIRT genes require nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) for their activation.

NAD+ is found in all cells and is required for the proper functioning of mitochondria (the “working engine” of the cell) since it facilitates the transfer of energy from the foods we eat into forms utilized by the cell. 

NAD+ is also required for “turning off” genes that are associated with accelerated aging.  Like AMPK, NAD+ levels decrease with age (30).  Sirtuins also play a role in mitigating the shortening of telomeres (like “caps” on the end of DNA strands, serving to protect the chromosomes within).  The shortening of telomeres is associated with a shortening of lifespan (31).

SIRT Strategies

One product that targets all 9 Hallmarks of Aging with a focus on NAD+ and anti-aging phytonutrients is Peak Healthspan. 

Caloric restriction is the most powerful way to activate SIRT enzymes.  This happens through increasing NAD+ levels which, in turn, activate anti-aging SIRT genes (32) (33) (34) (35).  SIRT activation inhibits mTOR and insulin growth factor 1 (IGF-1) (36) (37).  An increase in NAD+ results in increased activity of AMPK.

Best SIRT activators (38) (39):

• Calorie restriction or fasting (40)
• Cold and heat stress (22)(41)(42)
• Plant phytochemicals including polyphenols, terpenes and glucosinolates / isothiocyanates (e.g. resveratrol, pterostilbene, quercetin, curcumin, anthocyanins, sulforaphane, thymoquinone and catechins like epigallocatechin gallate) (23)(24)(43)
• Sun (nitric oxide, vitamin D, and proper circadian rhythm) (44)(45)
• Exercise (46)(47)
• DHA (48)
• Magnesium (49)

Anti-Aging Reseach on NF-kB

NF-kB is the central mediator of the immune response, in other words, the master switch for inflammation.  It is a like a super sensor detecting threats like free radicals, bad bacteria infiltration, and infections.  With age, NF-kB expression increases resulting in chronic inflammation and in the body overreacting to “threats”.

This is extremely important because chronic inflammation is related to numerous age related diseases and conditions; in fact, it is associated with 98% of the age related degenerative conditions including cancer, heart disease, diabetes, neurodegeneration (50). 

Obviously, NF-kB activity is something we want to control if we are aiming to increase our life and health span. Inflammatory responses related to exercise are beneficial and necessary.  Inhibiting the inflammatory response post-exercise may negate the benefits of exercise.

It also important that your PON1 gene is functioning optimally.  PON1 is one of the most studied genes and plays a critical role in cardiovascular risk, oxidative stress and inflammation.  Its enzymes are also responsible for breaking down chemicals that are detrimental to human health. 

Recent systems biology perspectives on longevity have identified that PON1 and NF-kB are linked, shedding light on the importance of both in inflammation (51) (52).

Undertaking a Nutrition Genome analysis will identify polymorphisms in your PON1 and recommend ways for improving gene function.  Lucky for us, PON1 gene function increases by many of the same inhibitors of NF-kB, which you can read more about here.

NF-kB Strategies

• Sleep (proper circadian rhythm and melatonin levels)(53) (54) (55)
• Yoga, meditation and reducing phycological stress(56) (57) (58)
• Calorie restriction or fasting(59)
• Fish oil (EPA and DHA)(60)
• Anti-inflammatory foods and plant phytochemicals including polyphenols, terpenes and glucosinolates / isothiocyanates (e.g. resveratrol, pterostilbene, quercetin, curcumin, anthocyanins, sulforaphane, thymoquinone and catechins like epigallocatechin gallate)(61) (62)
• Magnesium (63)
• Vitamin D (64)
• Heat stress (65)

What Do All These Anti-Aging Pathways Have in Common?

Here is the good news: these four pathways interact with each other and in most cases inducing the beneficial effect on one pathway typically does so on other linked pathways.  This allows us to target multiple pathways with one lifestyle or diet intervention; killing multiple birds with one stone if you will.

Looking at these pathways holistically, what do they all have in common?  What do they tell us about longevity? The answers to these questions can be distilled into the following:

• We need to keep inflammation low;
• We must ensure essential hormones, vitamins and minerals are present in the body at adequate levels to not inhibit cellular and enzyme activity;
• It is important that we maintain insulin sensitivity and glucose tolerance (and are metabolically flexible);
• Implementing lifestyle and diet changes (at the right dose) that stress the body in a positive manner (i.e. hormesis), invoke a stress response that targets nearly all these pathways in a beneficial way; truly embodying the expression “what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger”.

Furthermore, with a review of all the noted strategies to inhibit or activate these pathways, we can safely conclude that the cheapest ways are still the best ways to target the mTOR, AMPK, NF–kB and SIRT pathways (66).  To reiterate, these lifestyle and diet strategies are:

• Eating a diverse healthy diet with many plant phytochemicals;
• Heat stress;
• Cold stress;
• Caloric restriction / fasting;
• Exercise;
• Meditation / psychological stress reduction.

Below is a visual depiction of how these four pathways interact.  Note the relationship between the pathways and inflammation, energy/calories and insulin.  A few select food compounds are included to demonstrate how they target these pathways through activation or inhibition.

Figure 1 – Interactions of longevity pathways with select supplements (arrow represents activate; arrowless represents inhibit)

Source:  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2504011/figure/F1/

Some Major Questions Regarding Anti-Aging Still Remain

Lastly, longevity research still has more unanswered questions than answered ones. Having said that, there are some important facts that we currently do know:

• we do not know how multiple anti-aging strategies interact(68)
• most chemical compounds and supplements have yet to be extensively tested in humans(68)
• doses in studies are usually unpractically high and we do not know the effects of long-term use at those levels
• high doses of isolated phytochemical/polyphenols may be detrimental (69)(70)
• small chronic doses of studied compounds (and in a food matrix) seem to be more effective, and are more in line with what humans would have evolved consuming (71)(70)
• Diminishing returns result as we compound these lifestyle and diet habits; the same goes for supplements, antioxidants, and phytochemical ingestion; CR mimetics and fasting seem to have reduced impact the better the diet, and the healthier and fitter one is (72)(70); we suspect the same applies to the “stacking” of hormetic strategies (i.e. more is not necessarily better; we need to find the right “dose” and attempt to get the maximum benefit for the least effort).

Until research tells us otherwise, the recommendations herein take a conservative pragmatic approach. The recommendations focus on nutritional synergies and count on the checks and balances of phytochemical, micronutrient, mineral, macronutrient complexes that are natural to whole foods.

Please read How to Live Longer with these 7 Phenomenol Compounds.

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