How to live to be 100 years old? Eat less, stop while you can eat more, practice hunger from your 50s – Times Now

Restrict the calories you consume if you wish to live longer  |  Photo Credit: iStock Images

Whenever the issue of longevity with all your cognitive skills intact crops up, I cannot help but recall what then Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad had told a gathering of ASEAN leaders in Bangkok in November 2019. His political opinion and allegiances apart, the 5-time-PM's words are valued because though now 96 years old, he still exudes energy and good health.

First thing is dont overeat. Eat to live and do not live to eat. Thats it. Very simple. And when the food is nice, stop eating. That is what is my mothers advice to me.

"Its difficult, but you have to develop discipline. And then the next thing is to stay active means the whole system, Not just the muscles, but the brain as well. As you grow old, the brain begins to recede in power due to disuse. But if you use it to talk, debate, sing, quarrel etc, it will function well. If it does not, then repeat the actions.

"What you do again and again gets imprinted on the brain and it will remember. But if you go into inactivity on account of retirement, the brain and the body will lose its capacity, Dr Mahathir Mohamad told the audience.

Dr Mahathir graduated as a doctor in 1953 and served as a medical officer at the Alor Setar General Hospital.

Now BBC Future brings a report by Alex Riley that cites the importance of a lighter diet to ageing well. Its important to not just add years to human lifespan but vital as well to add health to those years (lets call it healthspan).

Focus on Healthspans and not Lifespans:Riley cites that in 2014, for instance, the United States Health Interview Survey reported that 16 per cent of people aged between 50 and 64 were impaired every day with chronic illness a betterment on a number that only 3 decades earlier stood at 23 per cent.

In other words, as well as benefiting from longer lifespans, we are also experiencing longer healthspans and the latter is proving to be even more malleable.

Riley paraphrases a speech by former US president John F Kennedy given at the first White House Conference on Ageing in 1961, life can indeed be added to years, rather than just years added to life.

How to enhance the length and quality of our lives?Researchers the world over say that the answer is a simple change in diet.They believe that the key to a better old age may be to reduce the amount of food on our plates.The BBC report calls this approach calorie restriction.

Cut back on fats and downsize the portion sizes permanentlyStudies carried out since 80+ years on animals involving a 30 per cent reduction in the amount of food consumed per day has been linked to longer, more active lives and its possible that humans have just as much to gain.

Restrict the diet in amount but not variety, as advised byAlvise Cornaro a 15th Century infirm aristocrat from a small village near Venice in Italy who claimed to have achieved perfect health up until his death in his 98th year. In 1591, his grandson published his posthumous three-volume tome entitled Discourses on the Sober Life that pusheddietary restriction into the mainstream, and redefining ageing itself, according to the BBC report.

A research video published by Salk Institute says: Eat less, live longer- If you want to reduce levels of inflammation throughout your body, delay the onset of age-related diseases and live longereat less food.

"Thats the conclusion of a new study by scientists from the US and China that provides the most detailed report to date of the cellular effects of a calorie-restricted diet in rats.

"While the benefits of caloric restriction have long been known, the new results show how this restriction can protect against ageing in cellular pathways, as detailed in Cell on February 27, 2020.

Incidentally, Salk Institute was founded by and is named after the great medical researcher Jonas Salk who developed the first safe and effective polio vaccine in the 1950s andchose to not patent the vaccine or seek any profit from it in order to maximize its global distribution.

A scientific report, published in Neurosciencenews.com, says that calorie-restricted diets reduce inflammation, delay the onset of age-related diseases, and extend lifespan.

If you want to reduce levels of inflammation throughout your body, delay the onset of age-related diseases, and live longereat less food.

We already knew that calorie restriction increases life span, but now weve shown all the changes that occur at a single-cell level to cause that, says Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte, a senior author of the new paper, professor in Salks Gene Expression Laboratory and holder of the Roger Guillemin Chair. This gives us targets that we may eventually be able to act on with drugs to treat ageing in humans.

When to start calorie restriction?Ageing is the highest risk factor for many human diseases, including cancer, dementia, diabetes and metabolic syndrome. Caloric restriction has been shown in animal models to be one of the most effective interventions against these age-related diseases. In the laboratory experiment, the animals diets were controlled from age 18 months through 27 months. In humans, this would be roughly equivalent to someone following a calorie-restricted diet from age 50 through 70.

So how many calories should we be eating?A report in Express.co.uk quotes NHS experts as saying: An ideal daily intake of calories varies depending on age, metabolism and levels of physical activity, among other things Generally, the recommended daily calorie intake is 2,000 calories a day for women and 2,500 for men The term calorie is commonly used as shorthand for kilocalories. You will find this written as kcal on food packets To lose weight in a healthy way, you need to use more energy than you consume by eating a healthy, balanced diet with fewer calories while increasing your physical activity.

Disclaimer: Tips and suggestions mentioned in the article are for general information purposes only and should not be construed as professional medical advice. Always consult your doctor or a professional healthcare provider if you have any specific questions about any medical matter.

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How to live to be 100 years old? Eat less, stop while you can eat more, practice hunger from your 50s - Times Now