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If you want to live 20 years longer, eat less
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
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Want to live longer - eat less! Scientists have found that reducing our diet by 40% can extend the average life expectancy by as much as 20 years!
Researchers at the University College London Institute for Healthy Ageing are developing a new therapy that they hope will help them beat the "disease" of old age. They are exploring how genetics and lifestyle can be altered to minimise the effects of ageing, pushing them back by decades.
This will also help delay the onset of age-related illnesses such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, and neurodegeneration. During one series of experiments, scientists noticed that the lifespan of a rat can be significantly extended by simply reducing its diet by 30%.
"If you cut a rat's diet by 40%, it lives 20-30% longer," says study author Dr. Piper. "In human terms, that's 20 years of life. The relationship between lifespan and the amount of food eaten exists in all living organisms, even in Labradors."
Scientists are also monitoring fruit flies, which have 60% of their genes in common with humans, and mice. Researchers have managed to extend the lives of both fruit flies and mice using special drugs and a modified diet. Perhaps this same combination will be effective in humans.
Dr. Piper and his colleagues have learned to make single genes mutate, as well as reduce the effect of mutations that cause Alzheimer's disease. However, all studies on ways to increase life expectancy last only 10 years, so the findings can be considered theoretical for now.