On Aug 29th 1997, Marie-Louise Meilleur started her day like any other with a breakfast of oats. Only this day was different, it was her 117th birthday and she had been officially credited with being the worlds oldest person.Little is known of the life of Marie-Louise Meilleur but one thing is sure, for large parts of her life she lived a mainly vegetarian diet.

The notion that a diet with plenty of vegetables but little meat aids longevity has been the argument of anti aging experts for many a year.During World War II when in Scandinavia meat was extremely hard to come by there was a large drop in the death rate.Later when things got better and diets returned to normal the death rate increased.A 21 year study by a German Cancer Research Centre found that vegetarians and moderate meat eaters who mainly ate fruit, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds lived significantly longer than the general population.

Consuming fresh vegetables,raises our levels of anti-oxidants.Eating fat, especially the type of fat found in meat products raises our intake of free radicals. By replacing our meat intake with more vegetables we raise our chances of living longer. This is especially true if we choose the vegetables or fruits with the more powerful anti-oxidants.In more ways than one, Marie-Louise Meilleur, whether intentional or not followed a strict anti aging diet.

I wonder though if Marie-Louise Meilleur knew about the anti aging properties of the oats she was eating!You see, oats contain a special fibre called beta glucans.This fibre has been shown to reduce the damaging type of cholesterol known as low density lipoprotein (LDL) and at the same time boost the good type of cholesterol, high density lipoprotein (HDL) This prevents your arteries from getting clogged up and therefore helps prevent some of the major diseases that can result from high cholesterol levels.Oats also contain protease inhibitors that help fight against viruses and carcinogens in the digestive tract. That’s not all, they assist in the battle against diebetes by regulating blood sugar and insulin levels.

Oats are not the only grain with hidden longevity health secrets.It’s estimated that 80% of cholesterol is made by the body.It would seem obvious then that to have any real impact on cholesterol levels we have to somehow alter the manufacturing process.It so happens that we can do this by making Barley part of our diet!Barley can help inhibit the production of LDL.Without having any impact on HDL, it lowers production of LDL by deactivating a critical enzyme involved in the manufactuing process.

Without question then, a vegetarian diet is probably a lot better with grains. It could be a valuable secret to effective life extension.