It’s both? Mediterranean and Japanese diet are said to be the healthiest diet. There is a reason why Mediterranean and Japanese are the longest lived in comparison to everyone. If anyone isn’t convinced, compare with the Polynesians. They also eat lots of fish and coconuts like the Japanese, but they are some of the most obese in the world due to their wide adoption of ultra processed and fast foods.
And apparently westernized diets are catching up with the Japanese, so much so that there are cases of people in their 90s still going strong, but taking care of their decrepit children in their 70s.
It’s thousands of tiny little things, pushing and pulling lifespans up and down.
As the screenshot notes, it’s both diet and access to healthcare.
It’s also other lifestyle factors, like amount of walking or driving, amount of alcohol consumed, tobacco use, etc.
It’s social and economic factors, like income, education levels, employment status, type of job, disability status, marital status, number of close friends.
It’s mental health issues, and related statistics like suicide rates, substance abuse rates, etc.
There are environmental factors, like environmental exposure to certain hazards or pollution, sunlight exposure, altitude, certain illnesses isolated to certain climates, maybe things like localized microbiomes (although those are also correlated with foods eaten and things like that).
There are also genetic factors for individual families or potentially ethnic groups.
And perhaps the one that can’t be ignored entirely is just plain old recordkeeping. Some places have high rates of people living past 100, but don’t seem to have much in the way of a lifestyle or environmental explanation, and may more accurately trace back to unreliable birth records 80+ years ago such that people might be mistakenly reported as living longer than they actually did.
Turns out it is all bullshit anyway. The Mediterranean and Japanese diet fads were based off reported life expectancy figures. It turns out that the longer life expectancy is due to poor government records and widespread pension fraud in these areas. A Nobel prize was awarded for uncovering these issues. A number of other studies that purported that olive oil was key to a healthy heart were later retracted for bad science.
I’m pretty sure the Greek and Japanese longest living people were achieving their age less through diet and more through pension fraud. They live as long as equally wealthy places if they were born after good birth records started being kept
The Polynesians have sugar cane which has caused them health problems since before they had access to processed food, Japan is too far north for sugar cane.
It’s both? Mediterranean and Japanese diet are said to be the healthiest diet. There is a reason why Mediterranean and Japanese are the longest lived in comparison to everyone. If anyone isn’t convinced, compare with the Polynesians. They also eat lots of fish and coconuts like the Japanese, but they are some of the most obese in the world due to their wide adoption of ultra processed and fast foods.
And apparently westernized diets are catching up with the Japanese, so much so that there are cases of people in their 90s still going strong, but taking care of their decrepit children in their 70s.
It’s thousands of tiny little things, pushing and pulling lifespans up and down.
As the screenshot notes, it’s both diet and access to healthcare.
It’s also other lifestyle factors, like amount of walking or driving, amount of alcohol consumed, tobacco use, etc.
It’s social and economic factors, like income, education levels, employment status, type of job, disability status, marital status, number of close friends.
It’s mental health issues, and related statistics like suicide rates, substance abuse rates, etc.
There are environmental factors, like environmental exposure to certain hazards or pollution, sunlight exposure, altitude, certain illnesses isolated to certain climates, maybe things like localized microbiomes (although those are also correlated with foods eaten and things like that).
There are also genetic factors for individual families or potentially ethnic groups.
And perhaps the one that can’t be ignored entirely is just plain old recordkeeping. Some places have high rates of people living past 100, but don’t seem to have much in the way of a lifestyle or environmental explanation, and may more accurately trace back to unreliable birth records 80+ years ago such that people might be mistakenly reported as living longer than they actually did.
Turns out it is all bullshit anyway. The Mediterranean and Japanese diet fads were based off reported life expectancy figures. It turns out that the longer life expectancy is due to poor government records and widespread pension fraud in these areas. A Nobel prize was awarded for uncovering these issues. A number of other studies that purported that olive oil was key to a healthy heart were later retracted for bad science.
I heard this about the Japanese super centenarians but I have never heard it about France. Interesting.
There is also the whole “red wine is good for your health” bullshit from France too…
Not being obese, sedentary and full of processed food and soda is the key IMO, plus healthcare obviously.
I’m pretty sure the Greek and Japanese longest living people were achieving their age less through diet and more through pension fraud. They live as long as equally wealthy places if they were born after good birth records started being kept
The Polynesians have sugar cane which has caused them health problems since before they had access to processed food, Japan is too far north for sugar cane.