Excuse me if I insist on this article. I’ve asked the Deepseek AI for a critical review of it, potential biases and inchoerencies.
Based on a critical review of the attached article (Optimal dietary patterns for healthy aging, Tessier et al., 2025) and comparison with existing literature, the following biases and inconsistencies are discernible:
1. Potential Biases
a. Selection Bias
Population homogeneity: The study uses data from the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS) and Health Professionals Follow-Up Study (HPFS), which primarily include health professionals (mostly women in NHS and men in HPFS) of predominantly European ancestry (95% in pooled cohorts). This limits generalizability to diverse populations (e.g., non-European ancestry, lower socioeconomic status).
Healthy cohort effect: Participants were free of chronic diseases at baseline, potentially excluding individuals with diet-related comorbidities, which may skew results toward healthier aging outcomes.
b. Measurement Bias
Self-reported dietary data: Dietary patterns were assessed via food frequency questionnaires (FFQs), which are prone to recall bias and misreporting (e.g., underreporting unhealthy foods).
Healthy aging domains: Cognitive, physical, and mental health assessments relied on self-reported questionnaires (e.g., Subjective Cognitive Decline, Geriatric Depression Scale), which are less objective than clinical evaluations.
c. Confounding Bias
Residual confounding: While the study adjusted for lifestyle factors (e.g., smoking, BMI, physical activity), unmeasured confounders (e.g., genetic predisposition, environmental exposures, stress) could influence associations.
Socioeconomic status (SES): SES was adjusted via a composite score, but residual socioeconomic disparities (e.g., access to healthcare, education) may persist.
d. Funding and Conflict of Interest
Industry influence: One author (M.G.-.) received funding from the International Nut Council, which may introduce bias toward diets emphasizing nuts (a component of several studied patterns).
2. Inconsistencies with Existing Literature
a. Weaker Association of Healthful Plant-Based Diet (hPDI)
The study found weaker associations between the healthful plant-based diet (hPDI) and healthy aging compared to other patterns (e.g., AHEI, Mediterranean). This contrasts with prior studies emphasizing strict plant-based diets for longevity (e.g., Satija et al., 2017).
Explanation: The hPDI negatively weights all animal-based foods, potentially excluding beneficial components (e.g., fish, low-fat dairy). This aligns with critiques that overly restrictive plant-based diets may miss synergistic nutrients (e.g., vitamin B12, omega-3s).
b. Sex-Specific Differences
Stronger associations in women (e.g., AHEI OR = 1.74 vs. 1.58 in men) conflict with some studies reporting similar benefits across sexes (e.g., Zhou et al., 2021).
Possible cause: Hormonal or metabolic differences (e.g., menopause effects) may modulate dietary impacts, but the study does not explore mechanisms.
c. Ultraprocessed Foods (UPFs)
The inverse association between UPFs and healthy aging aligns with global consensus (e.g., Monteiro et al., 2019). However, the NOVA classification used here has been criticized for oversimplifying food processing levels (e.g., grouping minimally processed nuts with industrially altered foods).
d. Planetary Health Diet Index (PHDI)
The PHDI showed strong associations with cognitive health but weaker links to chronic disease prevention. This contrasts with its original design (Willett et al., 2019), which emphasizes both health and sustainability.
3. Methodological Limitations
Survivorship bias: Only participants surviving to 70+ years were included, excluding those who died earlier (potentially with worse diets).
Temporality: Diet was assessed midlife (1986–2010), but dietary habits may change with aging, limiting causal inference.
Multiple comparisons: Subgroup analyses (e.g., sex, BMI) increase Type I error risk without Bonferroni correction.
4. Alignment with Consensus
The study aligns broadly with evidence that diets rich in plant foods, unsaturated fats, and fish (e.g., Mediterranean, DASH) promote healthy aging. However, its emphasis on moderate animal-food inclusion (e.g., low-fat dairy in AHEI) diverges from strict plant-based recommendations.
Recommendations for Interpretation
Generalizability: Apply findings cautiously to non-European, lower-SES populations.
Dietary nuance: Prioritize patterns like AHEI or Mediterranean over restrictive plant-based diets (hPDI).
Mechanistic research: Investigate sex-specific pathways and the role of food processing.
This study advances dietary guidelines but requires replication in diverse cohorts and with objective health measures. .
More ruminations on this study. what if we want to avoid altogether personal bias and rely on the logical inference of AI? I asked to build a daily omnivorous menu according to the results of the article, what comes out seems overly interesting.
Based on the findings of the study (Optimal dietary patterns for healthy aging, Tessier et al., 2025), here’s a daily omnivore menu designed to optimize healthy longevity, emphasizing foods linked to intact cognitive, physical, and mental health, survival to 70+ years, and reduced chronic disease risk:
Breakfast
Oatmeal bowl:
Steel-cut oats cooked with unsweetened almond milk.
Topped with blueberries, walnuts, and chia seeds (rich in fiber, antioxidants, omega-3s).
Side of low-fat Greek yogurt (probiotics, calcium).
Optional: Drizzle of honey (≤1 tsp).
Mid-Morning Snack
Apple slices with almond butter (fiber, healthy fats).
Optional: 1 glass red wine (5 oz) with dinner (AHEI component; polyphenols).
This menu aligns with the AHEI, Mediterranean, and DASH patterns, which showed the strongest associations with healthy aging in the study. Adjust portions to meet individual caloric needs (e.g., ~2,000 kcal/day for average adults).
He evidently assigns a high degree of reliability to the DASH protocol, which si also described in the article with ORs in Figure 2 and appears to be very much correlated to the results of the MNEditerranean protocol
Greger is more radical, he suggests no added sodium consumption, based on an argument to prevent increase in risk of HBP with age based on ecological studies.
I do not criticize Dr. Greger for such suggestions, which are generally healthy; rather, he often omits to state the evidence contrary to a pure vegan regimen, and people notice that, he loses credibility.
Back to sodium, he also suggests the alternative of KCl, which is very useful to limit sodium intake and increase potassium. To eliminate added sodium completely is not easy; it may also limit the palatability of vegetables and, as a consequence, limit the consumption of such a very healthy food group.
Ah, yes, it also seems that Deepseek read Longos’ longevity diet (it probably did it) and liked it!
I find the AI is less extreme than Valter Longo, suggesting daily yogurt and fruit, with less emphasis on legumes. But they are pretty similar, I agree. I’m going to ask for a weekly plan to submit to my wife, maybe with a caloric constraint.
EDIT:
I didn’t know it was this easy!!!
I simply asked my question to perplexity and it came up with a daily plan. I thought there were some sorcery skills needed!
Meat or veg? Plant-based protein is linked to a longer life, research shows
A global study has shown that countries that consume more plant-based proteins – such as chickpeas, tofu and peas – have longer adult life expectancies.
A global study by experts at the University of Sydney has shown that countries which consume more plant-based proteins – such as chickpeas, tofu and peas – have longer adult life expectancies.
Published in Nature Communications, Dr Alistair Senior, PhD candidate Caitlin Andrews and their team in the Charles Perkins Centre studied food supply and demographic data between 1961-2018 from 101 countries, with the data corrected to account for population size and wealth, to understand whether the type of protein a population consumed had an impact on longevity.
First author Caitlin Andrews said: "Our study suggests a mixed picture when it comes to comparing the health impacts of meat- versus plant-based protein at a population level.
“For the under-fives, a food system that supplies large amounts of animal-based proteins and fats – such as meat, eggs and dairy – lowered rates of infant mortality. However, for adults, the reverse was true, where plant-based proteins increased overall life expectancy.”
The open access paper:
Associations between national plant-based vs animal-based protein supplies and age-specific mortality in human populations
Transitions to sustainable food systems require shifts in food production and availability, particularly the replacement of animal-based protein with plant-based protein. To explore how this transition may relate to demographic patterns, we undertake an ecological analysis of global associations between age-specific mortality, total national macronutrient distributions, and protein substitution. Our dataset includes per capita daily food supply and demographic data for 101 countries from 1961–2018. After adjusting for time, population size, and economic factors, we find associations between low total protein supplies and higher mortality rates across all age groups. Early-life survivorship improves with higher animal-based protein and fat supplies, while later-life survival improves with increased plant-based protein and lower fat supplies. Here, we show that the optimal balance of protein and fat in national food supplies, which correlates with minimal mortality, varies with age, suggesting that reductions in dietary protein, especially from animal sources, may need to be managed with age-specific redistributions to balance health and environmental benefits.
Appearing today in my favorite rag The Daily Mail.
Unscientific survey by Thomas DeLaur (of YouTube fame) of ~200 people with less than 12% body fat.
While granted it’s unscientific, it fits my case perfectly except in the beginning I started to skip breakfast because I was following a keto diet.
I think this approach would work for most people regardless of diet choice. After skipping breakfast for some time, your body adapts to the new feeding schedule, and you don’t miss it.
Also, I like to work out on an empty stomach. I have been on the two meal a day schedule for almost 20 years.
DeLauer says:
"One common habit? Skipping breakfast - unintentionally.
These accidental fasts could lead to lower insulin levels and a boost in glucagon, a hormone that may help burn fat more efficiently, DeLauer says.
DeLauer says another big thing he noticed with people who are slim is that they tend to prefer operating on an empty stomach.
He says these people report preferring to train on an empty stomach, and they say they can ‘think clearer’ when they are not full from a meal.
Also, lunch is their biggest meal of the day."
“One observation that has shocked DeLauer is how many slender people love chocolate.”
LOL, fits me too, except I skip breakfast quite intentionally, as I do TRF 18-20 hours daily and also 5:2, so two days a week of low calories skipping dinner. My weight training is on an empty stomach, but not cardio, since I split my workouts, and jog later in the day after lunch, but before dinner. And not a big fan of chocolate.
That said, mostly it’s down to convenience. Fewer meals in a shorter period means more productive time without having to work around meal timing. Doing weights without having a full stomach somehow feels better - I do it after my overnight fast if 18-20 hours, perfect preparation for shower and first meal of the day, big lunch.
Duh, it’s because we desperately need some joy in our lives
Fwiw, I eat a lot early and then stop as the day goes on… but I’m very food motivated… if I wasn’t going to eat until lunch, I might not ever get out of bed!
That’s interesting, because I’m never hungry in the morning, and eating breakfast would mean forcing myself to eat. I did that for a while, because of research showing that in TRF, it’s best to eat early breakfast and dinner and then do your fast of 16+ hours. Shifting everything to lunch and dinner was actually somewhat health negative, particularly for glucose control, so I really tried. But I just couldn’t do it.
Blood glucose level is a fuel gauge. If still above 5.5 (~100) or so, no need to break a fast. Thus, given cortisol wakes me up and gives me high BG, skipping breakfast is not even any further decision needing to be made.
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