From eating red food to gossiping, how to ramp up your very own anti-ageing gene

IN A few weeks I will be 67 years old, more than two - thirds of my way to my goal of reaching 100, and, hopefully, getting a birthday card from the monarch. But how likely is it that I — or any of us — will reach this milestone?

Although average life expectancy in the UK has soared over the last century — up from just 46 in 1900 to an average of 81 now (79 for men; 83 for women) — it has recently flat-lined and begun to decline. that’s the average: many of us can expect to do better than that — and, of course, many will do far worse.

An obvious step is to look at your parents: my father died of heart failure at the age of 74, while my grandfather died of the same condition when he was just 66. My mother on the other hand, who is about to celebrate her 94th birthday, is still going strong.

In fact, as I discovered recently while making my tV series, Secrets Of the Superagers, what determines your longevity is a mixture of genes and lifestyle — but your genes become more important the older you get.

As part of my research I went to Okinawa, an island off the coast of Japan. It’s been dubbed ‘the land of the immortals’ because it has the highest proportion of centenarians anywhere in the world.

I met Craig Wilcox, a professor of public health and gerontology at Okinawa International University, who runs a research programme that’s examined more than 1,000 centenarians in the region. He told me twin studies have shown that whether or not you reach the age of 80 in good shape, is 75 per cent down to lifestyle and 25 per cent to genes.

BUt if you ’re hoping to reach 100, then it’s genes that really matter — and one gene in particular , FoxO3, which he described as ‘ the antiageing gene’.

We all have this gene, but there is a special longevity version, which seems to be particularly beneficial: if you inherit one copy from a parent, it doubles your chance of hitting 100, while if you inherit two copies (one from each parent), it triples your chances.

Professor Wilcox has been tested and found he has one copy . I’ve also been tested. I have none. Which is a bit of a blow. (tests for such genes are available privately.) Professor Wilcox thinks the variant mainly works by reducing chronic inflammation, which is behind many conditions of ageing, including heart disease and dementia.

He tried to cheer me up by explaining that even if you inherit just the ordinary F oxO3 genes, there are ways to activate them so they behave more like the protective version. these include intermittent fasting (such as with my 5:2 diet), regular exercise, stress reduction — and more surprisingly, consuming plenty of red and purple foods, such as reddish-purple sweet potatoes, shrimp and salmon.

these brightly coloured foods contain powerful antioxidants that help protect us against heart disease and stroke.

Numerous animal studies have shown that calorie restriction, if done while eating a nutrient-rich diet, is linked to a longer life, and recent research has suggested this is also true of humans. the idea that it might work, at least in part, by activating your FoxO3 genes is relatively new, but this has recently been shown in animal studies.

It could also explain why Okinawa has so many centenarians: when the generation of Okinawans who are now in their 90s and 100s were growing up after W orld War II, they lived on a very low- calorie diet (under 1,700 calories a day), but one packed with vegetables, (such as sweet potatoes) and seafood, with very little meat or rice, which doesn’t grow readily there.

Professor Wilcox thinks going on a low- calorie diet that ’s rich in vegetables and foods containing antioxidants helps activate genes such as FoxO3 that play a part in healthy ageing.

Indeed, a study by the University of Hawaii in 2017 showed that giving mice a supplement of astaxanthin ( an antioxidant found in reddish foods such as salmon) boosted activation of the FoxO3 gene by 90 per cent.

Sadly, younger Okinawans have largely given up the traditional Okinawan diet in favour of a more Western-style one, and as a result are not living anything like as long as their parents. Average life expectancy on the island is now 83, down from 86 in the 1980s — and lower than is typical in Japan (where it is 85).

One final lesson I learnt from the Okinawans was the value of something they call Moai, a gathering of friends who meet regularly to gossip or share advice and financial assistance as needed. these groups often start in childhood and can last a lifetime. Sometimes they just form to help support a friend who is going through a hard time.

I went to a Moai that had been created to support an elderly cardiologist whose wife had died. Once a week his friends would gather at his house to sing karaoke (which he loved), eat, dance and chat. It was a lovely atmosphere and you could see how much it meant to them all.

Research has shown that the richness of our social connections is probably the most important factor when it comes to leading a long and healthy life. Worth bearing in mind, if you ’re hoping to get that birthday card from royalty.