Blue Zones Researcher Shares 2 Inexpensive “Revolutionary Supplements” You Can Find at Any Grocery Store

Entrepreneur Peter Diamandis, founder of the XPRIZE, is the most experimental of the group. He’s been telling the crowd what he does for longevity: He lifts weights, prioritizes protein in his diet, tries to get at least eight hours of sleep a night, and takes off-label rapamycin, plus quercetin and berberine supplements.

After hearing all this, researcher and journalist Dan Buettner addressed the audience: “I have two revolutionary supplements to tell you all about it,” he said. The crowd laughed, recognizing that the items he was about to recommend were probably not actually supplements, but rather a few fundamental ingredients of a tried and true lifestyle.

Buettner has spent the past two decades exploring the world’s “blue zones,” the supposed longevity spots in the world where people have lived long, happy lives without much pharmacological intervention. In these regions, he has found two inexpensive supermarket items that are a staple in many people’s diets: walnuts and beans.

Aside from the blue zones, there is plenty of evidence from various studies around the world showing the health benefits of these two ingredients.

Beans are high in protein and stave off snacking cravings

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“If you want to take a supplement, take about 80 black beans a day,” Buettner said.

Beans are hearty, cheap, protein-rich, and belly-filling foods that people living in many of the world’s longevity hotspots prioritize in almost every meal.

Buettner recommends trying to get about a cup a day. One of her favorite ways to eat more beans is by simmering a Mediterranean minestrone soup in her slow cooker.

He points to a 2004 study that surveyed hundreds of broad bean fans in Japan, Sweden, Greece, and Australia, and found that overall, people who ate more beans tended to live longer (about 7 percent of mortality reduction for every 20 grams of beans). legumes). Other foods people ate didn’t seem to have the same strong longevity links.

Walnuts are good for your ‘gut garden’

“If you don’t like beans, we also found that people who eat 15 to 30 nuts a day live about three years longer than people who don’t eat nuts,” Buettner said.

Walnuts are a favorite nut among Seventh-day Adventists in Loma Linda, California, who typically live about 10 years longer than other Americans. Adventists also get creative with nuts, substituting them for meatless breads for dinner or sprinkling them on cereal in the morning.

Walnuts are also the healthy snack of choice for journalist Michael Pollan, who has been investigating health and environmental issues related to our industrial food system for decades.

Experts say that eating nuts, instead of nut butters, is great for your “gut garden” (aka your microbiome) because it includes plenty of fiber to keep things moving along. Walnuts are also high in linoleic acid, a heart-healthy Omega-3 fatty acid that is not abundant in other nuts.

Olive oil is also a scientifically proven addition to your diet

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“And the olive oil?” Diamandis asked Buettner, apparently intrigued by the Blue Zone guru’s research-backed dietary advice.

Buettner responded that he is “all about olive oil.”

Olive oil is the beloved substance of fellow tech biohackers like Bryan Johnson, who recently started selling his own expensive line of EVOO for $37 a bottle. But experts say more reasonable oils from your local grocery store will do just fine.

Behind the hype, there is good research supporting the benefits of regular olive oil consumption. Not only is the use of olive oil associated with better heart health compared to butter, there is also evidence that it can directly protect brain health by reducing inflammation and protecting the blood-brain barrier that protects our noggins of some cognitive impairment. A new 30-year study of more than 90,000 people in the United States suggested that even a little olive oil a day could reduce a person’s risk of dying from dementia by 28%, even if the rest of your diet is not very healthy.

“Olive oil tops!” Diamandis said with a smile.