Another book with “The New Science” in its subtitle, so, is this one a new science?

Yes and no; some findings are new, many are not, what really sets this book apart from many of its genre though is that rather than focusing on fighting aging, it focuses on retaining youth. While this may seem like one and the same thing, there is a substantive difference beyond the ideological, which is: while anti-aging research focuses on what causes people to suffer age-related decline and fights each of those things, Dr. Longo’s research focuses on what is predominant in youthful bodies, cells, DNA, and looks to have more of that. Looking in a slightly different place means finding slightly different things, and knowledge is power indeed.

Dr. Longo bases his research and focus on his “5 pillars of longevity”. We’ll not keep them a mystery; they are:

1. Juventology research
2. Epidemiology
3. Clinical studies
4. Centenarian studies
5. Study of complex systems

The first there (juventology research) may sound like needless jargon, but it is the counterpoint of the field of gerontology, and is otherwise something that didn’t have an established name.

You may wonder why “clinical studies” gets a separate item when the others already include studies; this is because many studies when it comes to aging and related topics are population-based studies, cohort studies, observational studies, or (as is often the case) multiple of the above at once.

Of course, all this discussion of academia is not itself practical information for the reader (unless we happen to work in the field), but it is interesting and does give confidence in the conclusions upon which the practical parts of the book are based.

And what are they? As the title suggests, it’s about diet, and specifically, it’s about Dr. Longo’s “fast-mimicking diet”, which boasts the benefits of intermittent fasting without intermittent fasting. This hinges, of course, on avoiding metabolic overload, which can be achieved with a fairly simple diet governed by the principles outlined in this book, based on the research referenced.

In the category of subjective criticism, there is quite a bit of fluff, much of it self-indulgently autobiographical and very complimentary, but its presence does not take anything away from the excellent content contained in the book.

Bottom line: if you’d like a fresh perspective on regaining/retaining youthfulness, then this is a great book to read.

Click here to check out The Longevity Diet, and stay younger!

First things first: it’s a great book, and it’s this reviewer’s favorite of Dr. Greger’s so far (for posterity: it’s just been published and this reviewer has just finished reading the copy she got on pre-order)

Unlike many popular physician authors, Dr. Greger doesn’t rehash a lot of old material, and instead favours prioritizing new material in each work. Where appropriate, he’ll send the reader to other books for more specific information (e.g: you want to know how to avoid premature death? Go read How Not To Die. You want to know how to lose weight? How Not To Diet. Etc).

In the category of new information, he has a lot to offer here. And with over 8,000 references, it’s information, not conjecture. On which note, we recommend the e-book version if that’s possible for you, for three reasons:

1. It’s possible to just click the references and be taken straight to the cited paper itself online
2. To try to keep the book’s size down, Dr. Greger has linked to other external resources too
3. The only negative reviews on Amazon, so far, are people complaining that the print copy’s text is smaller than they’d like

For all its information-density (those 8,000+ references are packed into 600ish pages), the book is very readable even to a lay reader; the author is a very skilled writer.

As for the content, we can’t fit more than a few sentences here so forgive the brevity, but we’ll mention that he covers:

• Slowing 11 pathways of aging
• The optimal anti-aging regimen according to current best science
• Preserving function (specific individual aspects of aging, e.g. hearing, sight, cognitive function, sexual function, hair, bones, etc)
• “Dr. Greger’s Anti-Aging Eight”

In terms of “flavor” of anti-aging science, his approach can be summed up as: diet and lifestyle as foundation; specific supplements and interventions as cornerstones.

Bottom line: this is now the anti-aging book.

Click here to check out How Not To Age, and look after yourself with the best modern science!