Nutrition is the most important factor for a healthy, long life. Prof. Andreas Michalsen is convinced of this. The renowned doctor explains in Die Welt how you can drastically increase your chances of a disease-free old age
“It is absolutely possible to live to 90 or 100 years without serious illness. Genetics plays a much less important role than previously thought. Nutrition is the most important factor.
‘How old you get is 91 percent in your own hands, yes. The largest data analysis in this area comes from Google. Their spin-off Calico (biotechnology company) is concerned with the science of how people can live longer. Using family tree data and the ages of hundreds of thousands of people, the scientists conducted the largest analysis to date, which ultimately attributes much less of the aging process to genetics than previous research has done.
Of course, there are families in which cardiovascular disease occurs repeatedly over several generations. But that is often because unhealthy habits are passed on. Self-conditioning. If a family has gotten into the habit of always eating a piece of cream cake in the afternoon, then this is not a genetic but a social component. The conclusion is often drawn incorrectly. Too little sleep, an unhealthy diet, not fasting, too little exercise: three heart attacks in a family are much more likely to be due to shared lifestyle habits than to genes.
The worst: industrial food
According to Michalsen, poor nutrition is more likely to be the cause of the obesity epidemic than sugars and carbohydrates.
“If I try to summarize the science, it’s not just sugar, it’s not just cholesterol, it’s not just lack of exercise. What is consistent is the fact that our food is becoming more and more industrially processed. We cook less and less at home and instead we eat ready-made preserved food enriched with additives. I don’t want to scare anyone, but the fact is that we also consume more and more pesticides, insecticides, heavy metals and so on through our food. ingesting microplastics.”
“From an experimental point of view, we can say with relative certainty that the more processed and contaminated food, the worse it becomes. In other words, the more unnatural our diet, the faster we become overweight. I understand why the food industry is making its products more and more tasty to to increase sales. Mixtures of fat, salt, sugar and flavorings are developed so that consumers eat as much of it as possible.
A convincing experiment
Michalsen: That was an experiment by physicist Kevin Hall, one of the most down-to-earth scientists I know. He received a kind of study hotel from the American National Institutes of Health. A group of people were housed there, fully monitored for four weeks and fed special food. Everything was analyzed, from their bowel movements to the air they exhaled. A scientific experiment with maximum meaning. The subjects received the same proportions of fat, carbohydrates, salt, protein, fiber and vitamins in their diets and were allowed to eat as much as they wanted. However, half of the participants received all this in the form of highly processed products. The result: these test subjects consumed 500 kilocalories more per day than those who were allowed to eat natural food. That is 3500 kilocalories per week and, extrapolated over a year, 20 kilos more body weight, just because the food was prepared in an energy-rich way. That’s the formula for becoming obese quickly.
“None of us are born ascetics. I don’t want to turn anyone into an ascetic. I often hear the taste argument. Yes, carrot salad doesn’t taste good if you’re used to eating fries and currywurst. If you’re used to chips, corn on the cob tastes bland You must take into account a certain transition period three months to get used to the new diet.
Michalsen: 90 percent of people with a poor diet will suffer from pain and other physical complaints by the age of 50 or 60 at the latest. I would like to make this calculation. If we lived in a world where we were all fine because we ate pizza and fries every day, I would be the last to object. But unfortunately that is not the case. I don’t want to patronize anyone, but it’s not fun to wake up in the morning with pain after a certain age. I don’t want to rob anyone of their schnitzel. But if you eat consciously, you can really enjoy the last 30 years of your life. If you do it right, maybe even 50 years. At that moment, everyone has to decide for themselves what they want.
An ideal diet?
Michalsen: The top three foods we should eat every day are legumes such as beans, lentils and chickpeas. In addition, consistent whole grain grains instead of white flour – including pasta. There are now excellent products that also taste good. Coming in third place nuts and seeds.
Very little sausage, meat, sweets and alcohol. More fruits and vegetables instead.
