The Longevity Diet: What You Need to Know

Note: Experts consider this eating plan a fad diet. Fad diets often promote quick weight loss and severely restrict what you eat. They generally do not have long-lasting health benefits and may be harmful. Talk to your healthcare provider before making any major changes to how you eat.

The longevity diet is a mostly plant-based eating plan that claims to slow down aging. It limits red meat, processed meat, refined carbohydrates, and sugar, while promoting legumes, whole grains, vegetables, nuts, olive oil, and fish.

Proponents of the longevity diet say that this approach may help people live longer and lower the risk of conditions such as heart disease and type 2 diabetes.

Valter Longo, PhD, director of the Longevity Institute at the University of Southern California and author of The Longevity Diet, reviewed hundreds of studies on how diet affects lifespan to develop the longevity diet.

“Using epidemiology and clinical trials, we put all the research together, and got a big picture of a safe and beneficial diet that’s associated with living longer,” says Dr. Longo.

The plan combines healthy eating habits with a fasting-mimicking diet. It includes a moderate to high amount of unrefined carbohydrates (think brown rice rather than white rice), a low but sufficient amount of plant-based protein, and about 30 percent of calories from plant-based fats such as nuts and olive oil.

Longo says that the point of the diet is not to try something trendy that will fall out of favor in a month or two. “I try to move away from the opinion of the month, but rather toward a multi-pillar strategy that will hold up for 20 years,” he adds.

“The diet might be best described as a ‘hybrid’ of the various blue zone dietary features — plant-predominant, relatively low-protein, very little animal foods, with emphasis on fatty fish and seafood, coupled with ‘mimicry of fasting’ by limiting the timing and quantity of food intake,” says David Katz, MD, the president of the True Health Initiative and the founding director of the Prevention Research Center at Yale University.

If you’re an adult without a history of disordered eating and your healthcare team has signed off on this diet, here’s what the diet includes, limits, and avoids.

Foods to Include

• Legumes
• Nuts
• Seeds
• Olive oil
• Whole grains
• Fruits
• Vegetables
• Low-mercury seafood (one or two times per week)

Foods to Limit

• Poultry
• Dairy
• Eggs
• Dark chocolate (as a dessert, in small amounts, such as three squares)

Foods to Avoid

• Refined foods
• Red meat
• Processed foods
• Added sugar
• Alcohol
• High-sodium foods

While research on this specific diet plan is lacking, the benefits of plant-based eating are well documented. “There is abundant research — overwhelming, in fact — on the general health benefits of diverse dietary patterns that emphasize whole plant foods,” Dr. Katz says.

• A Longer Life A 2026 study shows that high-quality plant-based diets were linked to lower risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and death.

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  However, Katz notes that there is no intervention study or randomized trial assessing actual longevity in humans.
• A Healthier Heart Research consistently shows that eating more fruits and vegetables is linked to a lower risk of heart disease.

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  Eating nonfried seafood once or twice a week can also be beneficial for heart health.

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• A Lower Risk of Type 2 Diabetes Eating more vegetables, while limiting processed meat and red meat, may lower your risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

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The longevity diet is very restrictive, and it’s not suitable for children, women who are pregnant or breastfeeding, or anyone with a history of disordered eating.

• Potential for Disordered Eating “The diet is rather restrictive and could be problematic for people with disordered eating such as anorexia nervosa or orthorexia,” says Christine M. Palumbo, RDN, a registered dietitian based in Chicago. Orthorexia is when a person is so concerned about the nutritional quality of their diet that their overall health and well-being suffers.

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• Not Suitable for Children or Teens Kids and teenagers need more calories than many adults to support normal growth. Restrictive dieting at this age is a major risk factor for eating disorders.

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• Not Safe During Pregnancy or Breastfeeding Low protein intake and calorie restriction during the fasting phase can make it hard to meet higher nutrient needs during pregnancy or while breastfeeding.

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• Fasting May Be Challenging A fasting-mimicking diet may be hard to follow. Although it’s different from a fast, sticking to a low-calorie plan for five days, several times a year, can be unsustainable for some people.
• Lack of Human Research Mice studies support longevity-style eating, but human research is lacking. Katz says that a diet is only a “longevity” diet if it extends lifespan, but there’s no direct evidence to show that it does in humans. He adds that the longevity diet is “somewhat sensationalistic” and its claims go beyond the available science.

Because of its restrictive nature, the longevity diet is not appropriate for children, pregnant women, people who are underweight, or those who have a history of disordered eating.

The fasting-mimicking phase and protein limits can be risky for older adults, who may need more protein to prevent muscle loss. It’s best to talk with a registered dietitian or a healthcare provider before starting any diet, since they can help determine whether the diet fits your health needs and how you can customize it.