The Longevity Code Quotes

“Even though all three diets had the same number of calories, the people on the low-GI and low-carbohydrate diet burned 125 to 325 calories more per day than did the people on the low-fat diet, and their blood vessels and metabolism were much healthier.118”
― Kris Verburgh, The Longevity Code: Slow Down the Aging Process and Live Well for Longer: Secrets from the Leading Edge of Science

“Your microbiome—that is, the composition of the bacteria in your gut—also influences how many calories certain foods actually deliver. It is often claimed that our gut contains about 300,000 billion bacteria, about ten times as many bacteria as there are cells in our body. However, a recent study estimates the number of gut bacteria to be about 40,000 billion, by and large the same amount as the number of human cells that make up our body. Anyhow, the composition of the gut microbiome can determine how much food (calories) we absorb. Some Japanese people have bacteria in their intestines that are specialized in breaking down seaweed. Thus, the seaweed is better absorbed and will deliver more energy in the form of calories than it would for Europeans who do not have this type of bacteria in their gut.”
― Kris Verburgh, The Longevity Code: Slow Down the Aging Process and Live Well for Longer: Secrets from the Leading Edge of Science

“Glucose and fructose are two kinds of sugars that contain equal amounts of calories (400 calories per 100 grams). Both are unhealthy in large amounts, but fructose even more so than glucose. Glucose can be processed by all organs in the body, whereas fructose is processed mainly in the liver. Consequently, fructose causes an even greater risk of fat accumulation in the liver, resulting in a potbelly, more fats in the blood, and insulin resistance. In addition, fructose creates cross-links with proteins much faster than glucose does. Fructose also sends fewer saturation hormones to the brain than does glucose, making you eat more of it and gain more weight. In short, although all these substances contain equal amounts of calories, they have completely different effects on your metabolism and your health, certainly in the long term.”
― Kris Verburgh, The Longevity Code: Slow Down the Aging Process and Live Well for Longer: Secrets from the Leading Edge of Science

“Food is not just calories. Food is information that continuously programs and influences the body, right down to the level of the DNA in our cells. Walnuts contain thousands of substances that influence and build up our body, so that we do not gain as much weight despite the many more additional calories per day.”
― Kris Verburgh, The Longevity Code: Slow Down the Aging Process and Live Well for Longer: Secrets from the Leading Edge of Science

“But a study found that women who ate two handfuls of walnuts per day (which amounts to an extra 300 calories—of the 2,000 calories a woman needs daily) did not gain weight.224 Several other studies show that a few hundred calories per day of nuts do not increase your weight. In some studies people even lost weight.225,226 Researchers call this the “mystery of the missing calories.” How is this possible if a calorie is always a calorie?”
― Kris Verburgh, The Longevity Code: Slow Down the Aging Process and Live Well for Longer: Secrets from the Leading Edge of Science

“Professor Eric Ravussin, who conducts research in the area of exercise and overweight, summarizes it as follows: “In general, for weight loss, exercise is pretty useless.”
― Kris Verburgh, The Longevity Code: Slow Down the Aging Process and Live Well for Longer: Secrets from the Leading Edge of Science

“65,000 people found that people who ate five portions of fruit or vegetables per day had a 29 percent lower risk of dying during the almost eight years of the study. Those who ate seven or more portions had a 42 percent lower risk of dying. Vegetables proved to be even more effective than fruit. The following figure illustrates these results.”
― Kris Verburgh, The Longevity Code: Slow Down the Aging Process and Live Well for Longer: Secrets from the Leading Edge of Science

“eating 10 grams of dark chocolate (about one fifth of a chocolate bar) is sufficient to ingest enough of these substances that are good for your heart and blood vessels, as well as your brain. The dark chocolate should contain at least 70 percent cacao. Fruit”
― Kris Verburgh, The Longevity Code: Slow Down the Aging Process and Live Well for Longer: Secrets from the Leading Edge of Science

“A large study with 114,000 participants found that those who regularly ate a piece of chocolate had a 37 percent lower risk of a heart attack and a 29 percent lower risk of a stroke.208 Cacao can also slow down the aging of the brain.”
― Kris Verburgh, The Longevity Code: Slow Down the Aging Process and Live Well for Longer: Secrets from the Leading Edge of Science

“study that followed men with bladder cancer for eight years found that men who regularly ate broccoli had a 43 percent lower risk of dying compared to men who did not eat broccoli.202 Women who ate more than 2 pounds of broccoli per month, had a 40 percent lower risk of breast cancer than women who ate only 10.5 ounces of it or less.203 A”
― Kris Verburgh, The Longevity Code: Slow Down the Aging Process and Live Well for Longer: Secrets from the Leading Edge of Science

“One reason coffee is healthy is because it contains mildly toxic substances that activate an alarm-protein, called Nrf2, in our cells. When Nrf2 detects these mildly toxic plant substances in the coffee, it travels to the DNA in the cell nucleus, where it starts up the production of our own body antioxidant and detoxification proteins. Detoxification proteins are activated because the cells want to eliminate these mildly toxic substances as quickly as possible.”
― Kris Verburgh, The Longevity Code: Slow Down the Aging Process and Live Well for Longer: Secrets from the Leading Edge of Science

“Some studies show that exposure to more free radicals causes lab animals not to live shorter but actually longer. Worms that had been genetically manipulated in such a way that they produced more free radicals lived 32 percent longer than regular worms. When you give worms a weed killer that increases free radical production in their cells, they live 58 percent longer (although I do not advise sprinkling weed killer on your breakfast).191 How is it possible that many antioxidants do not slow down aging, or even accelerate it, and that free radicals can slow down aging?”
― Kris Verburgh, The Longevity Code: Slow Down the Aging Process and Live Well for Longer: Secrets from the Leading Edge of Science

“As a result their metabolism produces many free radicals, in such large quantities that they can damage the cancer cells. Cancer cells actually profit greatly from antioxidants that wipe out the free radicals for them. That is why it might not be advisable to take antioxidants during treatment for cancer, as is sometimes suggested.”
― Kris Verburgh, The Longevity Code: Slow Down the Aging Process and Live Well for Longer: Secrets from the Leading Edge of Science

“In addition to metformin and exercise, the temperature in the environment can also play a role in hormesis. When you expose fruit flies to a high temperature for a short period, they live longer.184That could also be a reason why an occasional sauna or cold shower can have a healthy effect on the body. Heat is infrared radiation, but there is another kind of radiation that may have a hormetic effect too; namely, radioactivity. When crickets and mice undergo a small amount of radioactive radiation, they live longer.185 Something similar may be true for people. A report of the Atomic Energy Commission in the United States found that people living in the six states with the most radioactive background radiation had a 15 percent lower risk of dying of cancer compared to the other states.186”
― Kris Verburgh, The Longevity Code: Slow Down the Aging Process and Live Well for Longer: Secrets from the Leading Edge of Science

“usually also have a lack of hundreds of other nutrients. These are nutrients like flavonoids, stilbenes, coumarins, isothiocyanates, indoles, omega-3 fatty acids, carotenes, lutein, and prebiotic fiber. These substances interact with important proteins, the genome, epigenome, microbiome, cell receptors, the cell membrane, and innumerable other mechanisms. Only a healthy, varied diet can provide all these substances. This is the first and most important step.”
― Kris Verburgh, The Longevity Code: Slow Down the Aging Process and Live Well for Longer: Secrets from the Leading Edge of Science

“Potassium can lower blood pressure.172 That is particularly important to reduce the risk of a stroke. A too-high blood pressure damages the thousands of miles of hair-thin blood vessels in our brain, an organ that needs a continuously high supply of oxygen and nutrients and therefore has a very extensive network of blood vessels.”
― Kris Verburgh, The Longevity Code: Slow Down the Aging Process and Live Well for Longer: Secrets from the Leading Edge of Science

“our ancestors consumed an average of 11 g of potassium per day and only 0.7 g of sodium. Today, the situation is reversed: We eat about 4 g of sodium per day and only 2.5 g of potassium. That is bad for our body, particularly in the long term and mainly for our heart and blood vessels. When the relationship between sodium and potassium is out of balance, it results in a higher risk of various aging-related diseases, such as high blood pressure, which in turn can dramatically increase the risk of heart attack or stroke. In many primitive tribes across the world high blood pressure is very rare, even in the elderly. One reason is the high intake of potassium via their diet.”
― Kris Verburgh, The Longevity Code: Slow Down the Aging Process and Live Well for Longer: Secrets from the Leading Edge of Science

“Products like fermented soybeans (natto, miso, and tempeh) also contain a lot of vitamin K2 because bacteria in the soybeans produce this vitamin during the fermentation process. There are numerous variants of both vitamins K1 and K2, such as vitamin K2-7, K2-8, and so on. Most supplements contain only one form; namely, vitamin K2-7. However, there are many more forms of vitamin K than a supplement can contain. It is best, therefore, to get as much vitamin K as possible from food by eating more fermented foods (natto, miso, tempeh, and cheese), green leafy vegetables (like spinach, cabbage, and brussels sprouts), and herbs (such as parsley).”
― Kris Verburgh, The Longevity Code: Slow Down the Aging Process and Live Well for Longer: Secrets from the Leading Edge of Science

“vitamin K also makes the mitochondria function better. That is a good thing because the longer our mitochondria remain healthy, the slower we age.163 That is also one reason that sufficient intake of vitamin K decreases the risk of typical aging-related diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.164”
― Kris Verburgh, The Longevity Code: Slow Down the Aging Process and Live Well for Longer: Secrets from the Leading Edge of Science

“Our skin, blood vessels, and bones are all connected; hence, wrinkles, cardiovascular disease, and osteoporosis can be viewed as related symptoms. Of course, it is not only vitamin K that plays a role in all this. It also does not mean that everyone with lots of wrinkles has osteoporosis. But can vitamin K help prevent wrinkles? More research is needed to see if that is possible.”
― Kris Verburgh, The Longevity Code: Slow Down the Aging Process and Live Well for Longer: Secrets from the Leading Edge of Science

“people whose diet contains ample vitamin K have less blood vessel calcification.”
― Kris Verburgh, The Longevity Code: Slow Down the Aging Process and Live Well for Longer: Secrets from the Leading Edge of Science

“Vitamin K decreases the risk of osteoporosis, according to many studies. For example, one study found that women who took vitamin K supplements had an 81 percent lower risk of bone fractures.157”
― Kris Verburgh, The Longevity Code: Slow Down the Aging Process and Live Well for Longer: Secrets from the Leading Edge of Science

“selenium is Brazil nuts. One Brazil nut contains 60 to 90 mcg of selenium, which is a lot.”
― Kris Verburgh, The Longevity Code: Slow Down the Aging Process and Live Well for Longer: Secrets from the Leading Edge of Science

“selenium. Many people’s own antioxidant proteins, which are thousand times better at counteracting free radicals than any antioxidant supplement, as well as many immune system proteins, need selenium for proper functioning. Selenium can also decrease the risk of cancer.”
― Kris Verburgh, The Longevity Code: Slow Down the Aging Process and Live Well for Longer: Secrets from the Leading Edge of Science

“hormesis, a process that allows organisms to live longer. Step 3 tells you how growth stimulation can be reduced via your diet. The higher up we go, the more effective and promising the methods become.”
― Kris Verburgh, The Longevity Code: Slow Down the Aging Process and Live Well for Longer: Secrets from the Leading Edge of Science

“I recommend buying eggs specifically from grass-fed chickens rather than free-range chickens, which often still get unhealthy feed.”
― Kris Verburgh, The Longevity Code: Slow Down the Aging Process and Live Well for Longer: Secrets from the Leading Edge of Science

“The food industry would love to explain obesity as a problem of personal responsibility, since it takes the onus off them for marketing fast food, soft drinks, and other high-calorie, low-quality products.”
― Kris Verburgh, The Longevity Code: Slow Down the Aging Process and Live Well for Longer: Secrets from the Leading Edge of Science

“Numerous studies show that an excess of proteins accelerates the aging process.”
― Kris Verburgh, The Longevity Code: Slow Down the Aging Process and Live Well for Longer: Secrets from the Leading Edge of Science

“proteins can agglomerate in our cells, thereby aging the body faster, and that is exactly what happens. Consuming too much protein can also indirectly make the body to age faster.”
― Kris Verburgh, The Longevity Code: Slow Down the Aging Process and Live Well for Longer: Secrets from the Leading Edge of Science