The Best Foods for Longevity

Could sprinkling rosemary on your food lead to longer life?

In these 2 charts, I map the 12 best foods for good health and longevity to their beneficial compounds, as listed in the national bestselling book Younger You by Dr. Kara Fitzgerald. By studying the science of epigenetics, she has identified 12 superfoods/food groups for their ability to affect gene expression in preventing disease, maintaining health, and extending life. The biochemical process of how these substances interact with DNA is called DNA methylation, where good genes are expressed and bad ones are turned off. Foods contributing to the methylation cycle fall into 3 categories: adaptogens, methyl donors, and demethylating nutrients.

Many other foods assist in the DNA methylation process, but Dr. Fitzgerald has chosen these top 12 foods and food categories based on her scientific studies. In her groundbreaking clinical study, patients reversed their biological age by three years after 8 weeks on a diet of foods with the highest amount of adaptogens, methyl donors, and demethylating nutrients. The study also included regular exercise and meditation.

The longevity diet used in the study is made up of whole foods and leans heavily on dark leafy greens, cruciferous vegetables, lean proteins and adaptogens like turmeric, shiitake mushrooms and green tea. It can be adjusted for carnivores and vegans alike. In my diagram, cruciferous vegetables has been charted as a single category, but they consist of many vegetables, most commonly arugula, bok choy, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, cabbage, collard greens, horseradish, kale, mustard greens, rutabaga, turnips, and watercress. 

The nutrients from chart #1 are shown in chart #2 as a Venn diagram according to their methylation category and nutrient type. We’ve always know that a whole foods diet is good for you—with support from supplementation, exercise, and meditation—but now the science of epigenetics is proving exactly why.

Hippocrates could have said: “Let food by thy methyl donors…”