In today’s world, it’s about healthspan, not just lifespan. After all, what’s the point of living longer if that means decades of debilitating disease and cognitive decline? The Greenland shark can live healthily for up to 500 years, and the beluga whale for 200 years. So why don’t humans? We share the same genetic coding material – DNA – and we’re composed of the same chemical building blocks, yet our lifespans and healthspans are vastly different.
There’s an old saying that nothing is certain except death and taxes. Increasingly, some argue it may need updating to just ‘taxes’. Aging is now being viewed as a disease, and diseases are both preventable and curable. That raises the provocative question: can we cure aging? Answering it makes the study of longevity one of the hottest areas in human health. Crucially, this isn’t about ‘food as medicine’. Medicine is for disease, which is already too late. Because aging itself is a known cause of death, the goal is to slow or even reverse aging to prevent disease from developing in the first place.
Is aging a disease?
One step toward answering that question comes from the information theory of aging, largely developed by Harvard professor David Sinclair. He theorizes that aging results from the progressive loss of epigenetic information – which genes are switched on or off – rather than simply the accumulation of mutations or DNA damage. In other words, our ‘software’ becomes corrupted. Some of the biggest influences on slowing this corruption, delaying aging, and reducing the risk of age-related disease are the foods and supplements we consume.
Food to help slow aging
Plant proteins provide a strong basis for a healthy aging diet. Many have low levels of the branched-chain amino acids leucine, isoleucine, and valine (BCAAs). BCAAs activate the mTOR (mammalian target of rapamycin) pathway. Minimizing them helps downregulate this pathway, activating cellular defenses and promoting repair processes that slow aging.
Many plant foods also contain longevity-enhancing compounds such as polyphenols. These activate genes called sirtuins, which help regulate DNA repair, inflammation, metabolism, and cellular survival. Polyphenols also stimulate the AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) pathway, mimicking some of the benefits of exercise and calorie restriction.
One example is resveratrol, found in berries such as blueberries, cranberries, bilberries, raspberries, and mulberries – and even in peanut butter. Quercetin is another polyphenol, with capers being the richest food source per gram.
Reducing inflammation is another key to healthy aging, and maintaining the microbiome plays a central role. Fed with fiber, many beneficial gut bacteria produce short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), which act as metabolic messengers connecting gut health to systemic aging processes. By reducing inflammation, supporting metabolism, and enhancing cellular repair, SCFAs may help slow aging and extend healthspan.
Supplements to help slow aging
Many supplements thought to delay aging also originate from plants. As well as consuming resveratrol and quercetin in foods, purified supplements make it easier to achieve therapeutic doses. Another promising compound is berberine, found in goldenseal, barberry, and tree turmeric. It activates AMPK and inhibits mTOR, again mimicking the effects of calorie restriction.
In the future, instead of being extracted from plants, these supplements could be manufactured using technologies such as precision fermentation or cellular agriculture.
The simple conclusion
A practical approach is to eat a rainbow of plants to cover multiple compounds, use light steaming or fermenting to enhance bioavailability (for example, cooked tomatoes for lycopene), and pair fat-soluble compounds such as lycopene and curcumin with healthy fats like olive oil for better absorption. Then top up with targeted supplements to maximize longevity and healthspan benefits.
The contribution of food and supplements to longevity and aging can’t be overstated – they are the foundation for increasing our healthspan.
(Originally published in Protein Production Technology Q3 2025 )