What do the children of people who live to 100 eat? New study offers clues
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Children of centenarians scored relatively well on diet quality, yet still fell short of recommended intake levels for several foods.
The children of people who live to 100 appear to have slightly healthier diets than typical older adults, according to a new study.
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Previous research suggests that the children of centenarians often share some of their parents’ survival advantages, with markedly lower rates of age-related disease, particularly cardiovascular conditions such as heart attack and stroke.
Now, researchers at Boston University, in the United States, have asked a more practical question. What do these long-lived families actually eat?
Researchers analysed food questionnaires completed in 2005 by 457 older adults enrolled in the New England Centenarian Study, one of the world’s largest studies of very long-lived families. Most participants were the adult children of centenarians.
Participants' ages ranged from the mid-forties to the early nineties, with the average in their mid-seventies when they reported their diets in 2005.
The study found that these adults had moderate overall diet quality. Their diets were not perfect, but they scored somewhat higher than comparable groups of older adults in the US across four recognised diet measures, including indices linked with general health, chronic disease prevention, brain health and environmental sustainability.
RelatedThe strongest parts of their diets were fruit, vegetables, greens and beans, seafood and “protein-food quality”, meaning foods such as seafood and less processed meats. They also tended to do relatively well on limiting sodium, added sugar, and refined grains.
But the study found that these centenarian offspring did not meet recommended intake levels for several foods, including whole grains, legumes, soy foods, and nuts. Diets rich in these types of food are widely recommended by health authorities such as the World Health Organization as part of a healthy diet to reduce the risk of chronic disease.
The results do not prove that diet caused these families to live longer. Researchers are careful to note that the study was observational and based on diet reported at one point in time. The group was also highly educated and largely white, which limits how widely the findings can be applied.
Meanwhile, education appeared to be one of the clearest influences on diet quality. People with higher education levels tended to have healthier scores across the diet indices.
RelatedResearchers say the findings point to a need for better nutrition education for older adults, including skills such as reading food labels and cooking, along with more targeted approaches for men and women.
They also urged policymakers to improve the affordability and availability of foods such as whole grains and legumes.
Across Europe, people already tend to live longer than the global average, with life expectancy reaching 81.7 years, according to 2024 data.
Italy and Sweden recorded the highest life expectancy (both 84.1 years) and Spain (84.0 years).
By contrast, the lowest life expectancy was recorded in Bulgaria (75.9 years), Romania (76.6 years) and Latvia (76.7 years).
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