Blue Zone heart doctor shares the diet swap he’s made after studying longest-living people on Earth | The Sun
YOU'VE probably heard of the 'Blue Zones' – regions of Japan, Costa Rica, Italy, Greece, and California where residents often live to 100.
A doctor studying these populations has shared a key dietary change he's made to slash his risk of developing cancer.
Centenarians living in these zones are known to get regular, moderate exercise, eat veggie-focused diets, drink little alcohol and be deeply rooted in their communities.
Cardiologist Dr Gary Fraser lives in one of these famed longevity hot-spots: Loma Linda in California.
A community of about 9,000 Seventh Day Adventist church members form the core of the US's only Blue Zone.
The religious community views health as central to their faith and often tend to live up to a decade longer than other Californians in the area.
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Over several years, Dr Fraser has studied the eating patterns of nearly 100,000 Seventh Day Adventists in the US and Canada to pinpoint how their religion-based diet impacts their health longevity.
A keen cow's milk drinker for most of his life, the cardiologist has cut back on the calcium rich drink after digging into the data on prostate and breast cancer rates among Adventist milk drinkers.
Though some Adventists drink milk, many follow vegan diets and get calcium from non-dairy sources such as beans, lentils, tofu, almonds, seeds, and leafy greens like spinach.
Most only get 20 per cent of their calcium intake from milk, cheese and yoghurt.
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Comparing the health outcomes of vegan and non-vegan Adventists and conducting several studies, the cardiologist was startled to find that dairy milk seems to be associated with a higher risk of breast and prostate cancer.
And it doesn't take much of the popular hot drink additive to drive up your risk of the deadly disease – Dr Fraser told Insider that less than three-quarters of a cup a day can make a difference.
Both whole and skimmed dairy milk increased the risk of breast cancer for women and prostate cancer for men, the cardiologist said.
His findings lead Dr Fraser to cut most traces of milk out of his diet – but he said the same rule doesn't apply to dairy products such as cheese and yoghurt.
Neither carry the same risk of cancer as milk, he told Insider, as the they don't impact our hormones in the same way.
"The way you eat really makes a difference to your biology," Dr Fraser said. But he acknowledged that cancer risk also hinges our environment and genetics.
Next, he intends to study how milk drinking could impact mortality. But he did note that most breast and prostate cancers are survivable, so dairy consumption might not actually contribute to an early death.
For now, he's mostly having non-dairy milk.
"You've now got some good options — oat and almond and soy and flax, and all kinds of things."
He's also discovered the Adventist diet staple of nuts are are a more heart-healthy protein source than meat.
Non-dairy sources of calcium
Calcium is important to our overall health, as it helps build bones and keep our teeth in tip top shape, as well as regulating our heartbeat and ensuring our blood clots normally.
You probably already know that milk and cheese are rich in the vital mineral.
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But non-dairy foods are also great sources of it. They include:
- green green leafy vegetables such as curly kale and okra -spinach does contain high levels of calcium but the body can't digest it all
- soy drinks an non-dairy alternatives with added calcium
- bread with fortified flour
- little first where you eat the bones such as sardines and pilchards
- chia seeds
- almonds
- tofu
- white beans
- sunflowers seeds
- edamame
- sweet potatoes
- dried figs
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