The secret to longevity may be as simple as eating less sugar

Cardiologist Dr. Aseem Malhotra said the secret behind the “world’s healthiest village”, which can be found in the village of Pioppi in southern Italy, was as simply as consuming less sugar.

Malhotra, a self-confessed ex-sugar addict, has immersed himself in the study of the factors contributing to heart disease and obesity in Britain. As such, his research led him to observe the residents of Pioppi, who mostly live up to 100 years of age, and he found out that diet, lack of stress, at least seven hours of sleep each night, and decrease in sugar consumption – only once a week – were the factors that led the Pioppians to have long lives.

“Yes, the local[s] eat pasta – but only in small quantities, and they rarely touch sugar. They only eat dessert on a Sunday, pizza once or twice a month. They take time over lunch. They don’t have a gym but they are constantly on the go,” he said.

Pioppians have a high-fat and low-sugar diet, and they touch very little dairy, meat, and carbohydrates. “We did find that those in Pioppi didn’t have a diet rich in dairy products other than cheese, but this wasn’t out of choice; other dairy products simply weren’t widely available. Nor did they eat a lot meat; it was expensive. A diet with hardly any sugar and one that was rich in locally sourced vegetables and fish, with olive oil eaten with practically every meal, gave them significant health benefits,” Malhotra said.

And even though it wasn’t intentional, it just so happened that “intermittent fasting” was a part of life in the village, Malhotra said, which incidentally had an anti-aging effect.

According to Malhotra, the kind of food that one ingests is more of a determinant in longevity compared to the frequency and severity of vices. “More than physical inactivity, smoking, and alcohol, [diet] contributes to more disease and deaths. This should be the message from doctors – food is medicine.”