IN 2020, two studies found that following a mostly plant-based diet can improve longevity. One study by Harvard and Tehran University researchers found that people who consumed three per cent more protein from a plant-based diet reduced their risk of premature death by five per cent.

The study was published in The BMJ.

Another similar study published in the JAMA Internal Medicine found that replacing red meat and eggs with plant-based proteins reduced the risk of early death by as much as 24 per cent in men and 21 per cent in women.

CNBC report

A 2022 CNBC report interviewed 150 centenarians (those who lived to be 100) and found that the vast majority of them followed a 90-100 per cent vegan diet that included a lot of dark green leafy vegetables such as spinach, kale, collards and other seasonal veggies such as beet, carrot, and turnips.

The Game Changers movie on Netflix

The film takes a hard-line stance on veganism and meat consumption, even claiming that lean meats like chicken and fish are bad for your heart and can lead to poorer health outcomes. It also offers a wide-ranging, surface-level look at some major areas of research regarding the potential advantages of the vegan diet.

Blue Zone areas

Blue Zones are regions in the world where people are claimed to live longer than average (90 to 100 years old). Examples of blue zones include Okinawa,Japan; Sardinia, Italy; the Nicoya Peninsula Costa Rica; and Ikaria Greece and Loma Linda in California.

The name “Blue Zones” derived simply during the original survey by scientists, who “used a blue pen on a map to mark the villages with long-lived population.

The centenarians who resided in the ‘Blue Zone’ (a region where the people live longer than usual and enjoy robust health), ate little to no meat and followed a pescetarian diet – a diet that eschews meat and dairy but allows fish.

Here are some of the science-backed health benefits of following a plant-based diet:

May Help You Lose Weight

A 2014 study found that a vegan diet consists of low fat and more intake of fibre. Eating fibre-rich food items such as nuts, spinach, kale, etc makes you feel satiated and you tend to eat less.

Ideal For Diabetic Patients

A vegan diet may help you control blood sugar. Since plant-based diets tend to have more whole grains, fresh vegetables, and other food items rank lower in the glycaemic index may help you keep glucose levels low.

Vegan diets also tend to be lower in saturated fats making it ideal for people who suffer from type 2 diabetes.

May Keep Cancer Diagnosis At Bay

Several lifestyle factors such as obesity, sedentary lifestyle, etc. may make someone more vulnerable to certain types of cancers, especially gastrointestinal ones such as stomach, liver, pancreas, gall bladder, etc. Consuming more legumes, and cruciferous vegetables and cutting down on processed food items such as chips, soft drinks, and red meat can lower your risk of being diagnosed with cancer to a great extent.

Promotes Gut Health

Eating a plant-based diet, can encourage the growth of beneficial bacteria/microbiomes in our gut. This in turn promotes better digestion and metabolism.

Protects Heart Health

Since this diet reduces cholesterol as well as lowers blood sugar and chronic inflammation, it is also great for protecting heart health. Rising cholesterol and chronic oxidative stress are two culprits that cause heart attack.

Singapore: The 6th Blue Zone area (access to healthy food )

Dan Buettner, the famed national geography photojournalist was amazed by Singapore’s food shopping scene. Healthy Food was subsidized, incentivizing people to buy whole foods with abundant nutrients over more highly processed foods (Buettner has yet to see this initiative implemented widely across the globe or in other blue zones).

On a systematic scale, Singapore’s government reduced the amount of sugar in sweetened beverages and added healthy food labels to items with limited amounts of sugar, fat, and sodium.

“People are mindlessly consuming less sugar,” Buettner says.

Plant based diet in Blue Zones

The diet is mostly plant-based. The daily food intake of people living in Blue Zones is about 95% vegetables, fruits, grains, and legumes. They do not eat much meat, dairy, sugary foods or drinks, and processed food. Food is not the only reason that people in Blue Zones live long, healthy lives.

Plants and fruits in Filipino fast food chains

We need to be innovative and creative to live longer. Leafy vegetables, mushrooms and ubod from palms, bamboo and other plants collected from the wild are important vegetable stuffs. Durian, mante, badak and tabo are the common fruits they eat. The Palawan tribe has a reservoir of knowledge regarding food sources necessary for survival.

For example, Jollibee is one of the most popular fast food chains in the Philippines, with significant presence in the country and abroad. It has successfully integrated Western restaurant and food concepts into Philippine food culture, promoting itself as an institution of Philippine identity. Everybody loves burgers and fries because they are cheap and yummy.

Plato was right when he expressed that the “Gods created certain kinds of beings to replenish our bodies; they are the trees and the plants and the seeds.”

What if we introduced in their menus fruits and veggies, our farmers will plant all over the country. This will solve food security , healthy diet , and climate change. The market demand will increase and thus the price of these goods will go down as result of the increased volume of demand.

“By eating meat we share the responsibility of climate change, the destruction of our forests, and the poisoning of our air and water. The simple act of becoming a vegetarian will make a difference in the health of our planet.”

― Thích Nhất Hạnh

Irrigated farm areas mainly grow rice and sugarcane whereas rainfed areas are planted with coconut, corn and cassava. The Philippines’ major agricultural products include rice, coconuts, corn, sugarcane, bananas, pineapples, and mangoes.

Life span of Filipinos

In the Philippines, life expectancy at birth (years) has improved by 1.4 years from 69 years in 2000 to 70.4 years in 2019

Worldwide, life expectancy at birth (years) has improved by 6.52 years from 66.8 years in 2000 to 73.3 years in 2019.

The highest life expectancy was in Hong Kong and Japan at 85 and the lowest was in the Central African Republic at 54.

Meanwhile, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority, the projected life expectancy for Filipinos was 71 for males and 78 years for females.

Nothing will benefit human health and increase the chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.

Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food. – Hippocrates (The Father of Medicine)

###

Anthony C. Leachon, M. D.

Independent Health Reform Advocate

Past President ,
Philippine College of Physicians

Department of Internal Medicine
Manila Doctors Hospital

AUTHOR PROFILE

Dr. Tony Leachon