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Tech execs like Bryan Johnson and Sam Altman are optimizing their diets to live longer. Here's what experts say to eat to expand your lifespan, from pomegranates to red onions.

Tech execs like Bryan Johnson and Sam Altman are optimizing their diets to live longer. Here's what experts say to eat to expand your lifespan, from pomegranates to red onions.

Lakshmi Varanasi

Pomegranates are high in Urolithin A, a compound that is known to improve mitochondrial efficiency.Oli Scarff/Getty Images

As a quest for longevity sweeps the nation, people are taking supplements and prescription pills to reverse aging.
Research shows that diet also plays a role in determining — and even increasing — a person's lifespan.

Some billionaires, like Elon Musk, opt for a donut for breakfast and barbecue for dinner.

Others, like biotech entrepreneur Bryan Johnson, methodically prepare smoothies with compounds like creatine, spermidine, collagen peptides, and consume copious amounts of vegetables.

Tech billionaires clearly don't have similar diets, or even goals for their health. Still, those like Johnson aren't abiding by fastidious nutrition plans simply to stay healthy — they're aiming to live longer.

And though there's certainly an overlap between eating for general health and eating for longevity, Dr. Anant Vinjamoori, chief medical officer of longevity-focused healthcare company Modern Age, told Insider there are also a few key differences.

Mind your protein intake

Vinjamoori suggests looking at protein intake as an example.

"Protein is essential for building and maintaining muscle mass, and having adequate muscle mass is important for healthy aging." At the same time, Vinjamoori said, "protein intake is also known to work against some of the beneficial, restorative pathways in our body."

That idea is corroborated by the work of Dan Buettner, who founded the longevity brand Blue Zones.

Buettner spent years studying the habits of those in what are called "Blue Zones," regions of the world where people tend to live to the age of 100.

Across all five Blue Zones — Loma Linda, California; Nicoya, Costa Rica; Sardinia, Italy; Ikaria, Greece; Okinawa, Japan — Buettner and his team found that people consume less protein (especially animal protein) than the rest of the world.

Go vegetarian or vegan

David Sinclair, a Harvard Medical School professor and longevity researcher, takes the argument against animal protein one step further, contending that the best way to live longer is by dropping meat entirely.

In an interview with The Knowledge Project Podcast last December, Sinclair said that high animal protein diets may help people look and feel great, but only in the short term.

"I'm convinced, and the data shows it from population studies, that a carnivorous diet is not a longevity producing diet in the long run," he said.

Several powerful figures in the tech industry don't eat meat either. OpenAI's Sam Altman is vegetarian while Twitter co-founder Biz Stone is vegan.

Breaking it down to the cellular level

Vinjamoori said that it can also be helpful to think about eating for longevity from the cellular level.

"I start with the question of what cellular processes I want to optimize, determine which compounds have been shown in research to optimize those processes, and then to find foods that have high concentrations of those compounds," he said.

Insider set out to figure exactly which foods would optimize those processes, and ultimately, help you live longer. Read more, below.

Beans

Beans are the "cornerstone" of centenarian diets, according to Dan Buettner of Blue Zones. The Washington Post /Contributor/Getty Images

Buettner and his team found that beans are the "cornerstone" of most centenarian diets. That includes everything from from fava beans to soybeans to lentils to black beans.

In the Blue Zone of Ikaria, a small Greek island in the Aegean Sea, people eat a diet of beans, along with whole grains, potatoes, olive oil, and fruits and vegetables.

Buettner and Sam Skemp, a former program manager at Blue Zones, wrote about the Ikarian diet in a paper published in the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine, and found residents live an average of eight years longer than Americans.

The Ikarian diet is also similar to the Mediterranean diet, which was found to increase life expectancy by more than four years in certain regions of Italy, according to a study published in 2016.

Red Onions

Red onions are high in a compound called quercetin which can reduce senescent cells. Thomas Martinsen / Unsplash

Modern Age's Vinjamoori told Insider that red onions are high in a compound called quercetin which has been shown in multiple studies to effectively reduce senescent cells, or "zombie cells" as they're sometimes called.

Senescent cells are no longer usefully functioning but haven't yet been removed by the immune system, Vinjamoori said.

And instead of just hanging around, they also release inflammatory compounds that have been linked to a host of age-related conditions ranging from Alzheimer's disease and arthiritis to cancer, according to researchers at the University of California San Francisco.

Capers

Capers are the richest natural source of quercetin. Renata Apanaviciene/Shutterstock

Capers, which are the immature buds of the Caper bush, are the r ichest natural source of quercetin, providing more than 230 mg of the compound per 100 grams according to data from the United States Department of Agriculture.

In brine, however, as they're commonly sold, capers provide a little more than 172 mg per 100 grams, according to the USDA.

Wine

While the evidence on moderate drinking is mixed Buettner and his team suggest drinking Cannonau wine or red wine for a longer life. Klaus Vedfelt/GETTY IMAGES

Buettner and his team found that in the majority of the world's Blue Zones, people drink wine "moderately and regularly." The only exception is the community of Adventists in the Blue Zone of Loma Linda, California.

"The trick is to drink 1 to 2 glasses per day (preferably Sardinian Cannonau wine), with friends and/or with food," Buettner and Sam Skemp wrote in a paper published in the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine.

And when it comes to drinking, context remains important.

A study published this month found that the methodology used in past studies that extolled the benefits of moderate drinking was flawed.

Many of those studies compared groups of moderate drinkers who had health advantages over groups of abstainers, who may have stopped alcohol due to health issues or were former drinkers, the study noted.

Once those differences were accounted for, the study found no real benefits to even moderate drinking.

Turmeric

Curcumin, which reduces inflammation, can be found in turmeric, a spice commonly used in Indian cuisine. Krisanapong Detraphiphat/Getty Images

Turmeric contains curcumin which been shown in numerous studies to reduce chronic inflammation, which is associated with age-related conditions including cancer, Alzheimer's disease, and arthritis.

Coffee

Drinking two to three cups of coffee per day might be linked to living longer. Iryna Veklich/Getty Images

According to a study published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology last year, drinking two to three cups of coffee per day might be linked to living longer.

The researchers analyzed data from observing 450,000 people for a period of 12.5 years. They found that coffee drinkers were less likely to die early compared to non-coffee drinkers. Added to that, those who drank two to three cups of coffee of any type were less likely to develop cardiovascular disease.

In a blog post from 2018 titled "Productivity," OpenAI CEO Sam Altman wrote, "I have one big shot of espresso immediately when I wake up and one after lunch. I assume this is about 200mg total of caffeine per day."

Pomegranates

Pomegranates have a high concentration of Urolithin A which can help remove dysfunctional mitochondria. runner of art/Getty Images

Pomegranates have a high natural concentration of a compound called Urolithin A.

Urolithin A can help optimize the function of our mitochondria, which are essential to powering our cells with energy, but often break down with age.

And the scientific evidence around Urolithin A and pomegranates is promising.

A study published in 2017 found that pomegranate juice extended the lifespan of fruit flies, and a 2022 study found that older adults who were given 1000 mg of Urolithin A a day for four months had significant improvement in muscle endurance.

Nuts

Nuts are consumed across the Blue Zones and have been linked to lower mortality rates. Jenny Dettrick/Getty Images

Nuts are widely consumed across the Blue Zones. In Ikaria and Sardinia they eat almonds, in Nicoya people eat pistachios, and the Adventist community in Loma Linda eats all types of nuts, according to a post by Buettner on Blue Zones.

A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2013 that followed 120,000 people for a period of 30 years found that daily nut eaters were 20% less likely to have died during the study.