As of now, at the time of writing this article, the oldest living person on our planet is 118 years old, with current research suggesting that possible human life span can reach even 150 years. If the idea of living a long and healthy life seems appealing to you, you’d definitely want to pay close attention to what experts in life extension fields are saying about how to effectively do it. Their findings on the healthiest drinks to have or longevity beverages are particularly interesting.
Dan Buettner, National Geographic fellow, New York Times best selling author and world renowned researcher of the so called Blue Zones or the world’s longevity hot-spots has recently had an interesting Instagram post that garnered a lot of international attention. It was a list of longevity beverages that people that live in the BlueZone, who according to research and statistics live longest without chronic disease, drink on a daily basis.
Btw, the Blue Zones list include Sardinia – Italy, Ikaria – Grece, Okinawa – Japan, Nicoya – Costa Rica, and Loma Linda – California. Buettner draws a correlation between the lifespan and longevity of these people and what they have been drinking for decades in these places. Scientific research on all of these drinks exists to back-up their longevity-enhancing status.
1.Green Tea
Green teas is the main beverage of the Okinawa region, where people are known to sip on a jar of it all throughout the day. Buettner provides two reasons on why this drink allows those who consume it live longer and healthier lives. The first reason is green tea’s caffeine content – research linked caffeine to not only lower rates of diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, and coronary conditions, but to sharper mind.
The second reasons is the fact that green tea is packed full of powerful antioxidants – flavanols and catechins. While flavanols have been linked to a reduction in LDL (bad) cholesterol, which leads to a better overall cardiovascular health, catechins protect our body from free radicals.
Along with that, green tea also contains an amino acid called l-theanine which is found to protect the brain and improve mood.
This almost-miraculous healthy beverage thanks to being rich in EGCGs (a certain type of catechin) can even potentially protect from certain types of tumors, where EGCGs has been shown to inhibit cancer growth.
When shopping for your green tea, go for Matcha. It’s a more powerful version of green tea, chock-full of EGCGs.
2.Black Tea
As it carries many of the same benefits as green tea with its caffeine, flavanol, polyphenol, l-theanine and antioxidant content, black tea is also considered a protective defense against the development of cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes and certain types of cancer. Where it also shines even more brightly than its green counterpart is the fact that it works as a powerful prebiotic, inducing the growth of friendly microorganisms thus improving overall digestion and gut health.
3.Coffee (black)
Similarly to green and black teas, coffee also contains caffeine and is packed with antioxidants. According to Buettner’s research, coffee is the main source of antioxidants in the American diet mainly due to its prevalence over all other drinks.
Consumption of coffee is linked to lower risk for type 2 diabetes, development of depression, cancer, and liver disease. It also lowers the chance for development of neurodegenerative diseases.
Buettner that the way coffee is prepared also have a certain kind of impact on how healthy or health-beneficial it is. In the Blue Zone of Ikaria, Greece, coffee is ground fine and then boiled, prepared in a similar way to Turkish coffee, which makes for release of another type of powerful antioxidant. Like in Ikaria, coffee is the hot beverage of choice in the Blue Zone of Sardinia, whereas in Costa Rica people tend to drink people tend to drink larger quantities of weaker coffee all throughout the day.
4.Red Wine
As surprised as you may be to find alcohol on this list, Buettner says that in each of the five Blue Zones, people drink small amounts every day – if you choose to have a little bit of red wine with the last meal of the day, it will greatly improve the antioxidant absorption and reduce cortisol levels.
He notes that there are actual studies that link red wine to lower mortality rates. Those who choose to drink no more than two drinks a day are found to have a lower chance of dying than those who do not drink at all. The reason for this is likely red wine’s high antioxidant content which has been shown to protect against type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and some forms of cancer.
However, like in everything that has a potential to be harmful in larger amounts, Buettner notes that moderation is key. People should not drink more than one drink a day, and these folks who are living the longest lives of anybody on our planet are enjoying a little bit of alcohol every day.
