I wasn't sure whether to post this as it is not low carb, but we are all looking for better health and centenarians don't get to their age without being in good health right? Some believe all carbs are pure evil, few believe that fiber is damaging to our health, and fewer still believe that vegetables are just poison!... Well the centenarians would disagree as they consumed an average of around 465g of them!

I figured that some of you might be interested in it at least... So here it is

A survey of the dietary nutritional composition of centenarians

To read the whole thing go here: http://www.cmj.org/Periodical/PDF/2001/2001101095.pdf

Abstract:

ObjectiveTo make a survey of the nutritional composition of the diets of centenarians.

Methods Thirty- four centenarians were selected as subjects. Retrospective surveys were made on the variety and amounts of food consumed and their nutritional composit ion. Physical examinations with laboratory tests such as cardiograms, ultrasoni c B rays, and blood, urine and hair tests were performed. Neutron activation te sting was done on hair content. The transmission turbidimetric method was used to measure apolipoprotein content.

Results The main food of the centenarians showed the characteristics of low calories, pr otein and fat but high fiber and mineral content. Laboratory results showed tha t the content of the elements of Cu, Se and Mn in hair was higher (P<0. 01) . Zn was normal. The apoA1/apoB100 ratio was higher than in the contro l group (P<0. 0I), and total cholesterol (TC) was lower than in the control group (P<0. 01).

Conclusions The variety of diet and its nutritional composition may be the main factors infl uencing not only the content of elements in body, but also the levels of apoA1 and apoB100, which may be helpful in preventing arteriosclerosis and form ing and maintaining immunity. The diet of these centenarians might aid in preve nting cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases and malignant tumors.

Some important parts:

- Diets were low in calories (1419k/cal), protein and fat, but high in fiber and minerals
- Vegetable intake was high
- -apoA1, apoB100, TC, HDL- C and LDL- C levels of centenarians are all lower than those of the control group
- It seems as though their healthy eating habits was the main reason for their longevity

and my fave

-the typical diet of Japanese centenarians shows sweet potato slices as their main staple food which is very similar to the diet of Chinese centenarians

I love my sweet potatoes!

Table2

interesting in that chinese centarians seem to consume fewer calories than other chinese with identical lifestyles. however, the fact that they eat a diet high in vegetables and low in fat and protein probably doesn't distinguish them much from other, shorter-lived chinese mountain-living counterparts.

IMHO, the single common characteristic of centenarians is: good genes. Totally unscientific, of course.

I like the diet thingy though, my grandmom and great aunt Sofie eat perogies [noodle pockets stuffed with potatoes and cheese and fried in butter] keilbasa [polish sausage] Babka, krushiske [deep fried cookies with powdered suger on] every day! and are 103 and 92 years old now, my other grandmom and great grandmom were english and ate everything with gravy on it, and lots of puddings and both died in their 100's. I love both those kinds of diets, but I'm betting it has more to do with having good genes

I doubt that reaching 100-110 is down to just good genes. It's clear that in certain parts of the world where they consume diets like this (okinawa) with low energy intake, they commonly live till their 90's and 100's in good health. The people living in the Okinawa region of Japan have 40 times the number of centenarians as some other countries. Just seeing the differences in life expectancy for different parts of the world indicates how lifestyle affects lifespan.

Thats certainly not just down to good genes but reaching 110+ is probably both luck and diet. Isn't it like genes only account for 25% of your longevity?... the rest is diet and envirionment.

In a video about two centenarians I posted a couple weeks ago or so... They found the common thing that most centenarians had was good a healthy life style. Most do not reach that age by eating ****

Seeing the difference between my Mom and others around her age, 86, I believe that probably most of the difference in their health is due to genetics. They're all eating pretty crappy diets, by my standards, some are smoking, some are alcoholics, some skinny, some chubby.

Everyone likes to blame genetics. If they die young, it's genetics. If they live to 100, its genetics. Genes can be turned on and off by the foods we eat. The most important thing I will retain from this is that low-calorie was more important than percentages of meat, etc.

We all know someone who did everything wrong and lived a long life. That doesn't mean I want to smoke a carton a day and drink a gallon of bourbon a day like my grandfather did. (Died at 85)

You can still "blow it" even if your family has the longevity gene.
My great grandparents lived past 100 but lived a healthy lifestyle, my parents would say they were "tea totallers" Whatever that means?
But my grandmother didn't make it so far!
She literally lived on beer, cigarettes, entemanns and frozen dinners.
The only reason I think she lived as long as she did was, besides the longevity gene, she loved crossword puzzles.
She died when she was 80.
That still is pretty good, but she also had zero stress. She would never leave the house or do anything.

Anyway, I remember hearing that my great grandparents swore by dried apricots. Strange.

Granted I'm just arguing for the sake of entertainment here, so don't overreact. But wouldn't you say that the population of say, Okinawa, represents a particular gene pool as well as a dietary pattern? Unlike the population of, say, Minneapolis.

Furthermore, TWO centenarians in a video doth not a sample make. The correlation of lifestyle could well be coincidence. And as Nancy points out, there are numerous reports of centenarians who smoke, drink alcohol, and eat sausages. They are not necessarily in "good health" in spite of being old.

Genes, I say. But eat your veggies and exercise anyway.

I believe genetics plays a large part in how long we live. Otherwise, you wouldn't have "cancer runs in his family" sort of thing. I remember reading the obit of a lady who reached 103 or something. She ate steak and eggs all the time and liked her brandy.

Oh, BTW its "teetotalers" , and it means they totally abstained from alcohol. It came from the 1800s where people would emphasize a word by repeating the first letter. So instead of saying total, they would say T-total, hence Tee-total, and teetotaler, one who doesn't drink alcohol.

I personally think genetics are the main reason some people live longer than others, modern medicine not withstanding. Okinawa is a small island with a small gene pool. The article on aging published by National Geogrpahic earlier int he year featured three distinct populations: Okinawans, Sicilians and Seventh Day Adventists---all which are prone to marry within the same gene pool. That withstanding, I do believe that diet and lifestyle can possibly strenghten people's genes.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/...827_agegen.html

My great-grandmother on my mother's side lived into her 90's. My own mother is 86 and doing fine, but both her parents died in the 70's. My mother smoked, my grandmother smoked but my grandfather did not smoke. Who knows?

Loved the etymology on teetotal. Learn something every day. Thanks!

There are a few problems with what some of you are saying, i'll address them now, it's almost certainly not just in the genes, here are the reasons why and what you would expect if they were genetically *gifted*

Okinawans life expectancy is now dropping due to a change in diets of the under 50 year olds. They have large numbers of people obese with type 2 diabetes and other significant health problems. They have basically adopted western life style.

Here is a fact (part of it will be contraversial aroun dhere lol... but the point is they don't live aslong!)

"Okinawans consuming a meat-heavy diet in Brazil live 17 years shorter on average than those who consume the traditional diet in Okinawa.

^^
That is not what we see in people with good genes. These people are not superhuman because of their genes, they are just as vulnerable to bad eating habbits as everyone else!

What do we see in typical genetically gifted person?

The ability to handle stress very well, they are able to go against all *rules* what one should do to make it to extreme ages, the ability to handle toxins like smoking. Jeanne calmet was a genetically gifted person. Okinawans in general are not.

But by reducing calories, the same characteristics show up as what these people with good genes have. Good immunity to illnesses, ability to deal with deadly toxins and not be as harmed and many other things...

It's obvious that genetics plays a large part in how long you live. CRers are always trying to dream up ways to "fool" their DNA into thinking they're younger than the biologic clock says they are.

Since your genes are "selfish" they may want you to live awhile past childbearing years to assist your kids with childrearing, etc, but not too long. Once you become a drag on your kids odds for survival, you're toast.