Eat these two power foods if you want to reach 100

Want to live to a hundred?  Then eat plenty of fruit and nuts every day.

These are two of the power foods in the Mediterranean diet that have the biggest impact on longevity, say researchers at the Autonomous University in Madrid.

Although all the foods associated with the diet—including lean meat, fish, grains and vegetables—influence our overall health and wellbeing, it’s the fruits, nuts and olive oil that matter the most if you want to reach your century.

Sticking to the diet could cut your chances of a premature death by more than 20 percent—and eating the typical Western diet that includes fizzy drinks and pastries could have the opposite effect and cut years from your natural span.

The researchers tracked the health and longevity of more than 11,000 people with an average age of 48 years and assessed their diets and how close they were to either the Mediterranean or Planetary Health Plan (PHD) diets; the PHD is primarily made up of plant foods and restricts the consumption of meat.

Over the 14 years the group was tracked, 1,157 of them died, but the risk of premature death was lower in those who closely followed either diet; those who primarily ate the PHD diet were 22 percent less likely to die prematurely compared to those in the bottom third, who only occasionally vegetables.  Those who mainly followed the Mediterranean diet had a 21 percent reduced risk.

Those who mixed the diets, and ate fruit, nuts and consumed olive oil every day, had the lowest risk of dying prematurely.

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