How To Live Longer

Life expectancy is increasing in Spain. The country appears to be on track to have the longest-lived citizenry, bypassing Japan. According to this article, researchers credit life style changes with the expansion of life expectancy. Three key factors are extending lives.

Fernando de la Fuente, who has run a fruit and veg stall in the Mercado de Maravillas for 47 of his 61 years, was not at all surprised that researchers think Spain’s famous Mediterranean diet plays a major role in longevity.

The oldest people he knows – and they tend, overwhelmingly, to be women – know how to eat.

“It’s fruit and vegetables – which we can grow all year round – it’s fish, it’s meat; it’s a bit of everything,” he said on Friday morning.

Could he conceive of a diet without a sizeable daily ration of fruit and vegetables? He looked confused and then aghast – and probably not just for professional reasons.