A longevity scientist who says he's reversed his age by 15 years shares the diet he follows — and 3 foods he avoids
Kim Schewitz Mar 22, 2025, 12:52 AM ET
Dr. Eric Verdin, 63, studies the biology of aging and how to get and stay healthy.
He believes lifestyle factors such as diet play the biggest role in how long we live.
He follows a Mediterranean-style diet and rarely drinks alcohol.
A healthy aging doctor and researcher who claims to have reversed his biological age by up to 15 years said he follows a Mediterranean-style diet — but avoids things like alcohol.
Dr. Eric Verdin, the CEO and president of the Buck Institute for Research on Aging, studies how we can extend our "healthspan," or quality of life, by maintaining faculties that tend to decline with age, such as cognition, and preventing chronic diseases like cancer and type 2 diabetes.
For the last decade, Verdin has used wearable devices, such as smartwatches, as well as quarterly blood tests, to track his own health and makes tweaks according to the results. Currently, he's working on eating an earlier dinner to extend his intermittent fasting window.
According to tests that measure biomarkers such as inflammation, blood pressure, and cholesterol, while his chronological age is 68, Verdin's biological age is between 48 and 53. There is no consensus on the definition of biological age or how to measure it, so it differs according to the tests he refers to.
In general, Verdin believes lifestyle factors, including diet, exercise, sleep, stress management, and social connections, play a larger role in determining how long we will live in good health than genes.
Verdin shared the diet he swears by for longevity, and the three foods he limits as much as possible.