Nobody has yet shown any way to extend the life span of
humans. However, both exercise and calorie restriction (with
adequate nutrients) have been shown to extend the life span of
animals. Both of these measures apparently extend life by
increasing the number and size of mitochondria in cells and
making them turn food into energy more efficiently. Each cell in
your body contains up to several hundred mitochondria which
provide the most efficient chemical reactions in your body for
converting food into energy.

An exciting new study on worms offers a potential method
for you to prolong life and good health. When blood sugar levels
rise too high, sugar enters cells in large amounts. An earlier
study showed that adding sugar to the diet of the worm, C. Elegans,
shortens its life (Cell Metabolism, October, 2007). Now the
researchers have found that preventing sugar from entering cells
by altering the genes for DAF-2, DAF-16 and Heat Shock Factor-1
causes the same changes as avoiding sugar and extends the worms'
life span up to 20 percent (Cell Metabolism, November 2009).
These benefits could also occur in humans because we have the
same three genes that control sugar entry into cells as those
of the worms.
Calorie restriction and exercise probably prolong life
by the same mechanism: they enlarge and activate mitochondria in
cells that turn food to energy. This helps mitochondria to clear
free radicals much more rapidly from the body. Free radicals can
damage cells and therefore shorten life. The worms' cells
responded to the absence of sugar inside cells by increasing their
ability to clear free radicals from their bodies which prolonged
their lives. Indeed, when sugar was allowed to again enter their
cells, they still could clear free radicals faster and live longer
because their enlarged mitochondria were more efficient in removing
free radicals.
This research on worms questions the way doctors treat
type II diabetes when they prescribe drugs to lower blood sugar
levels by driving sugar into cells. The best treatment may be to
develop diets and drugs that prevent blood sugar from entering
cells in the first place.
For now, we know that you will shorten your life and
increase risk for many diseases by allowing blood sugar levels to
rise too high after meals. A diet that keeps sugar from rising too
high after meals (and reduces the entry of sugar into cells) can
prevent diabetes, help control all the side effects of diabetes
(JAMA, December 16, 2008), cause the most weight loss, and
allow many type II diabetics to safely stop their medications
(Nutrition and Metabolism, January 2009). Avoid foods that cause
the highest rise in blood sugar levels: sugar in liquid form
(sugared drinks, fruit juices, and adding sugar to any drink);
foods made from flour (bread, spaghetti, macaroni, pretzels,
bagels and so forth); and foods with added sugar.

You should also exercise every day. Exercise causes
muscles to remove sugar from the bloodstream at a very rapid rate
and this effect lasts maximally for about half hour after you stop
exercising, then tapers off until it stops completely after about
17 hours. Furthermore, since lack of vitamin D causes high blood
sugar levels, you should make sure that your blood level of
vitamin D3 is above 75 nmol/L (see the note on new vitamin D
recommendations below).