Longevity: Habits and Foods for a Longer, Healthier Life

Green tea, oily fish, leafy greens, garlic, blueberries, tomatoes, grapes, mushrooms, peanuts, whole grains, legumes and sweet potato appear on almost every list of longevity foods. Longevity: Habits and Foods for a Longer, Healthier Life puts such lists to a fair test. It takes the author's eight food categories (anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, telomere protection, immune enhancement, cardiovascular protection, cancer prevention, brain health and gut health) and three extras (goji berry, guilinggao herbal jelly and coffee), and weighs each against the research as it stood in October 2026.

Every food, habit, supplement and drug carries an evidence grade from A (randomised trials with clinical outcomes) to D (cell or animal studies only). Effects are given as numbers, with the study type, size and year, and the text says plainly when evidence is weak, observational, contradictory or funded by someone with a product to sell.

What is inside

- Part I, The Science of Ageing: the twelve hallmarks of ageing, inflammation, oxidative stress, telomeres and the gut-brain axis, biomarkers and epigenetic clocks, and centenarians and the blue zones, including their critics.

- Part II, Habits That Lengthen Life: steps, fitness and VO2max, strength and balance, sleep and light, stress, social connection and purpose, hearing, vision and oral health, smoking and alcohol, and screening and prevention.

- Part III, Dietary Patterns: the Mediterranean, Okinawan and other Asian diets, DASH, MIND and plant-forward eating, fasting and caloric restriction, and protein after 60.

- Part IV, The Eight Food Categories: a chapter for each category and one for the extras, each with its foods pictured together, an evidence verdict and scores.

- Part V, The 100 Best Longevity Foods: a profile of each food with its photograph, nutrition table, key studies, evidence grade, and how to buy, store and cook it, plus a rankings chapter.

- Part VI, The 100 Worst Foods to Avoid: processed meats, sugary drinks and alcohol, fast food and snacks, sweets, damaged fats, salt and additives, and toxic or contaminated foods, each with the dose that matters and a better swap.

- Part VII, From Plate to Practice: fourteen-day meal plans and recipes, protocols by decade of life, the Traditional Chinese Medicine view of longevity foods, supplements and repurposed drugs with evidence grades, whether these foods could become a drink or a pill, myths and scams, and a personal longevity dashboard.

- Part VIII, The Frontier: epigenetic reprogramming, the longevity industry and research pipeline, and the future of food.

- Appendices: a glossary, the scores for all 200 foods, nutrition reference tables, open-source tools, a screening calendar by age, key studies by chapter and a sourcing guide.

Why this book is different

- Each of the 100 best foods is scored from 0 to 100 on eight benefits: anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, telomeres, immunity, heart, anti-cancer, brain and gut. Each of the 100 worst is scored on eight matching harms. The scores are the book's own judgement, made by a stated method with fixed anchors, so you can see why every number is what it is.

- Honest results, including uncomfortable ones: no single food scores highly on all eight benefits, telomere claims rest on the thinnest evidence, and alcohol tops the list of foods to avoid.

- Asian foods and hawker meals sit alongside Western ones, from bok choy, tempeh and natto to teh tarik, lap cheong and instant noodles.

- Practical throughout: portions, storage times, cooking methods, drug interactions and Safety notes that say who should talk to a doctor first.

- Hundreds of tables, diagrams and food photographs.

This book is for general information and education. It is not a substitute for advice from your own doctor, especially before changing medication, starting a supplement or a fast, or taking up intense exercise.