FOOD FOR LIFE

Increasingly, researchers are finding that foods known to protect against disease act in ways that may also affect aging.

The studies suggest it's wise to:

• Pick nutrient-dense, low-calorie foods. While severe caloric restriction is usually impractical, some researchers believe that "calorically selecting" foods--emphasizing low-calorie, high nutrient produce, for example--may yield similar benefits. People in Okinawa, Japan, generally eat that way and live longer than probably any other group.
  
  
• Eat like a Greek. Research has linked the Mediterranean diet--lots of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, legumes, fish, and monounsaturated fats such as olive oil, plus moderate amounts of wine--with longer life and less heart disease. In a two-year clinical trial, that diet reduced inflammation and insulin resistance significantly better than a "heart healthy" low-fat diet. It also eliminated the metabolic syndrome--excess belly fat, hypertension, high blood sugar and triglycerides, and low levels of the "good" HDL cholesterol--in many more people than the low-fat diet did. Another trial found that a Mediterranean diet with up to 35 percent of calories from fat actually led to more weight loss than a low-fat diet, possibly because the Mediterranean one is more filling so people eat less, and more appealing so people adhere to it.
  
  
• Stick with whole foods. They're loaded with phytochemicals, nutrients, and other beneficial substances, which often work better in combination with other food components. In contrast, studies of isolated antioxidant supplements have generally found no benefit.
  
  
• Choose bright colors. Vivid fruits and vegetables tend to be rich in phytochemicals that have antioxidant and antiinflammatory properties. "Including a variety of bright colors in your daily diet can help counteract the effects of aging," says neuroscientist James Joseph, Ph.D., of the USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University. Joseph has shown that feeding concentrates of blueberries and other colorful produce to aging rats improves cognitive and motor function--results similar to those in calorically restricted animals.