
Fortune:
The key to a long life is avoiding the ‘poisonous 5 P’s,’ says one of the world’s top anti-aging experts,
Alexa Mikhail
Sat, May 24, 2025 at 3:06 AM MST
3 min read
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Unfortunately, the crowd-pleasing pizza is one of longevity scientist Valter Longo’s “poisonous P’s” for longevity.
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Long before Bryan Johnson became famous for his extreme biohacking—undergoing countless tests, following strict eating habits, and taking dozens of supplements in the name of living forever—Valter Longo was obsessed with longevity.
In a profile of the scientist in the New York Times, Longo, a professor of gerontology and director of the USC Longevity Institute in California, says he wants to live 120 to 130 healthy years. His drive for longevity aligns with a growing interest in extending health span, the number of years lived free of disease, as opposed to life span—which refers to the number of years lived.
The Italian lifestyle has long been considered the gold standard for longevity, with the focus on the Mediterranean diet, walkability, and community. Sardinia, Italy, is one of the five original Blue Zones—regions where people live the longest, healthiest lives. Lessons from the residents of Sardinia were the focus of one of the episodes of Dan Buettner’s Netflix documentary Living to 100.
Longo, who was born and raised in Italy, points out that today, “almost nobody in Italy eats the Mediterranean diet.”
Italy’s youth are facing obesity because of what Longo calls the “poisonous five P’s—pizza, pasta, protein, potatoes, and pane (or bread),” Jason Horowitz writes in the NYT. Longo fears Italians will live long but not healthfully if this pattern continues to dominate the culture.
How to reverse it? Longo, author of The Longevity Diet, is a proponent of the original Mediterranean diet, which consists of plant-based foods and nuts. He has his own recipes for longevity on his website, which include sweet and sour sardines, stuffed artichokes, cabbage patties, and onions in walnut sauce.