Can your diet really help you live longer?

Whilst genetics can play a part in determining your lifespan and susceptibility to chronic diseases, your diet and lifestyle are now thought to have a much greater impact on how long you’ll live.

This view has been backed by a new study which suggests that reducing consumption of red and processed meat in favour of eating more legumes (such as beans, peas and lentils), whole grains and nuts, could increase life expectancy by more than a decade.

When comparing a “typical Western diet” to an “optimal diet”, switching to the latter could add up to 10.7 years of life for women and 13 years of life for men. A “typical Western diet” contains hardly any legumes, few fruits and vegetables, and too much dairy and sugary drinks, whereas an “optimal diet” is rich in vegetables, legumes, whole grains and nuts.

The researchers, from the University of Bergen in Norway, found that eating more legumes led to the biggest gains in years of life, adding about 2.3 years to life expectancy for both men and women combined. Eating more whole grains led to an additional 2.2 years, while consuming more nuts added just under two extra years. Men and women in their 60s stand to gain 8.4 years of life combined if they swap out red and processed meat for the more “optimal diet”, while those in their 80s could still add 3.4 years.

This new research seems to support the study of so-called “Blue Zones” - home to some of the oldest and healthiest people in the world. One factor common to all blue zones is that those who live there tend to eat a largely plant-based diet, typically only eating meat around five times each month.

And according to a separate study which looked at nearly 470,000 people who have enrolled in the UK Biobank programme and who were 56 or older, drinking three cups of coffee a day could help you live a little longer too.

It found that those who were moderate coffee drinkers - consuming between half a cup and three cups a day - were about 25 per cent less likely to die of any cause during the decade long study, compared with those who drank no coffee. Coffee drinkers were also about 25 per cent less likely to die of cardiovascular disease. However, the health benefits were seen only with freshly brewed ground coffee, not with instant.

Exceeding three cups a day had no additional positive impact - but alongside caffeine, coffee also contains minerals and antioxidants which have linked it with reducing the risk of cancer, type 2 diabetes and dementia. As caffeine is an appetite suppressant, researchers also think regular consumption leads to lower rates of obesity, and its health-related conditions.