How to live youthfully forever

So, you wanna stay young? This might be your best shot.

So, you wanna stay young? This might be your best shot.

While we wait for a magical anti-aging pill, for which there are a few candidates, you must not burn your food and you should lift weights.

Famed Covid-era doctor Norman Swan tells you what you can do in your 20s to live younger for longer in his new book: "So you want to live younger longer?"

The man loves evidence and double-blind scientific studies, so his anti-aging tips probably won't feel like special secrets. It's more like a workbook with few satisfying answers, tied together with hashtags and enticing chapter headings like "Anna Karenina and the microbiome".

An added credential here for the Doc is that he once served as a medical host for The Biggest Loser (Dr Swan acknowledges there were "lots of critics") telling very obese contestants how their biological age compared to their chronological age. 

First things first, why do we age? A lot of it has to do with oxidative stress or biological rusting. "We rust from the inside out," Dr Swan says. So, you don't want to burn your food because the brown stuff on top contains "pro-oxidants", which contribute to the rusting. The biggest pro-oxidant of all is tobacco so you definitely don't want to smoke. Saturated fat and sunlight aren't so good either. "The path to living longer is paved with reducing oxidative stress," he says.

Dr Swan's top tip for living to a fit 115 is eating like my Greek grandmother. The nerve I had to ever diss yiayia's fasolda (bean soup).

Here's what the Greeks taught us about cooking. Chop your veggies because it releases "bioactives". Cook slowly, so you don't get any caramelisation, and in olive oil - the extra-virgin kind. Eat your reds, purples, and oranges, so your capsicums, carrots, tomatoes, and eggplants, because they contain antioxidants.

But make sure don't overeat because if you do fat will deposit in all the obvious places and your cells will multiply "accelerating ageing".

The Greek Orthodox religion also asks that you vegan-fast for about 100 days a year, which probably adds to the long, healthy lives of the Greek Australian - the second longest living peoples in the world according to Deakin University.

In terms of what we know about fasting, there are very positive signs that "calorie restriction while maintaining healthy nutrition" could slow ageing. So, since a plant-based diet is itself low in calories, you might want to vegan fast every three days or so, Dr Swan says.

The 'miracle' drugs

Diabetes drug Metformin is probably our best shot at a miracle anti-aging drug. It reduces appetite and produces weight loss, and it might have antioxidant properties. But scientists are still trying to figure out if it works for healthy people, not just those with diabetes.

Resveratrol is found naturally in grapes, peanuts, berries, and red wine, and activates an enzyme family called sirtions or SIRT1. For animals, resveratrol strengthens heart muscles and improves blood sugar but it has failed so far in human trials.

Dr Swan's long-life tips:

• There's not a lot of evidence for drinking apple cider vinegar. But, remember, "When you take abnormally large amounts of a food, the dose is so high you're actually starting to use it as a drug even though you feel it's natural".
• Don't bother with bottled antioxidants or probiotics.
• Be a gym bro/chick and also exercise at moderate intensity (get your puff on) every day. "In general, more exercise is better, more intense is even better (and could save you time) but whatever you do must include muscle strengthing. People who exercise reduce their chance of premature death by up to 24%," Dr Swan says. 
• Learn about your dodgy genes, including who in your family died of what, so you can watch out for it.
• Spread your protein evenly throughout the day rather than loading most of your protein into dinner for the best muscle synthesis.
• If you play sport at a high level, you can gain up to six years of life - but that ship has probably sailed.