🌱 This Week's Spotlight: How Good Carbs Can Add Years and Health to Your Life

Can what you eat at 40 predict how you feel at 70? A new study in JAMA Network Open in May says: absolutely.

Researchers tracked over 47,000 women for three decades and found that those with the highest intake of high-quality carbohydrates and dietary fiber in midlife had up to 37% higher odds of reaching age 70 disease-free, mentally sharp, and physically strong.

What counted as "high-quality"? Carbs from whole grains, fruits (not juice), vegetables (not starchy potatoes), and legumes. Conversely, diets heavy in refined grains, added sugars, and starchy vegetables (e.g. potatoes, corn, and yams) were linked to lower odds of healthy aging. Two markers were especially telling: glycemic index (GI) and carb-to-fiber ratio. The higher they were, the worse the aging outcomes.

Healthy aging in this study was defined quite rigorously: survival to age 70 without any of 11 major diseases, intact memory and mobility, and good mental health. (Diseases included everything from heart disease and diabetes to cancer, Parkinson's, and ALS.)

What This Means for Us:

If you're in your 30s, 40s or 50s, fiber and carb quality matter deeply. Instead of fearing all carbs, it’s time to get selective:

🔹 Favor low carb-to-fiber ratio foods (like beans, berries, and oats)
🔹 Skip the fiberless carbs (like fruit juice and white bread)

Think about the 3 F's of Smart Carb Eating: Fruits, Flakes (whole grains), and Fiber-rich legumes.

💪 Action of the Week: Smart Carb Eating

Go to your pantry or fridge and sort carbs into two types: Eat Often (good carbs) and Limit (low-fiber, refined stuff). Even stick a label on them—make mindful eating easy.

🍽️🥖 Western Longevity Swaps

· Breakfast: Limit pancakes, jam, sweetened yogurt, sugary flakes, pastries, croissants, juice. Go for oats, unsweetened granola, plain yogurt, chia seeds, berries, sprouted toast, sourdough, whole fruits.

· Lunch: Replace white bread sandwiches, fries, mashed potatoes, soda. Choose whole grain wraps, lentil soup, roasted veggies, beans, quinoa salad, sweet potato.

· Snacks: Avoid chips, cake, cookies, ice cream, candy, soda. Opt for fruits, dark chocolate, tea, nuts.

· Dinner: Skip pizza, pasta, white rice, bread rolls. Try brown or black rice, tofu, chickpeas, lentil stew.

🥢🍚 Asian Longevity Swaps

· Breakfast: Instead of congee, pho, sticky rice, baozi, youtiao, white mantou, fried pancakes—go for brown/black/red rice, millet, chilled sushi rice, yellow or mixed grain mantou.

· Lunch: Swap instant noodles, rice/glass noodles for 100% buckwheat soba or whole wheat noodles.

· Snacks: Limit deep-fried spring rolls, tempura, prawn crackers, bubble tea, mochi, syrupy shaved ice. Choose edamame, kimchi, natto, raw salad, fruit salad, green tea, unsweetened soy milk, barley pearls, chia pudding, red bean soup with less sugar and black sesame.

· Dinner: Replace pizza, pasta, white rice, bread rolls with brown/black rice, tofu, chickpeas, lentil stew.

❓Ask Me Anything✨

Q: "Instead of buying supplements, can I get any NMN from natural food sources?"-Marc

Great question, Marc! Sadly, the answer is: not really. One of the richest sources, edamame, contains just 0.47–1.88 mg per 100g, so you’d need ~16 kilograms of soybeans to match one 300 mg NMN pill. But this could change in the future, as researcher are actively working on engineering gut microbes to make NAD+ precursors right inside our bodies and delivering a steady, natural supply! If you are curious, here's a cool read on where this research is heading: Frontiers in Microbiology, 2024.

Disclaimer:

This newsletter is for educational purposes only. Please consult your healthcare provider before making any significant dietary or lifestyle changes.

Thank you for reading! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Originally published on Longevity Newsletter