We can age without disease

New research into Victorian Britain suggests that cancer, heart disease and dementia are not inevitable parts of ageing, and that their incidence could be significantly reduced through improved nutrition.

Contrary to popular belief, Victorians who survived infancy had a life expectancy similar to our own, and while many died of infectious diseases, childbirth and industrial accidents, they did not spend the last 10 years of their lives in a state of "progressive medical dependency" owing to chronic disease, according to professor Paul Clayton, technical director of the Szent Gyorgyi Institute of Clinical PharmacoNutrition in Budapest. "Cancer, cardiovascular disease and dementia kill two-thirds of people today, but they were very very rare in the mid-nineteenth century, and yet we assume they are just part of ageing. They are not. That is a myth and a lie."

The absence of 'modern' diseases like these among Victorians could be attributed to their high levels of physical activity and a diet that was rich in complex carbohydrates, fruits and vegetables, omega-3s, prebiotic fibres, and relatively low in salt, alcohol, tobacco, vegetable oil and sugars, claimed Clayton, who was speaking at Food Manufacture's NPD conference in Warwick last month: "They were eating 3-4,000 calories a day and burning them all off. Today we tell people they can eat 2,000 calories a day and get all the nutrients they need from eating a balanced diet - that's almost impossible for most people."

Most people were therefore "depleted in most micronutrients", said Clayton. Meanwhile, there were still no reference daily intakes (RDIs) for scores of nutrients, while the RDIs that had been established were based on a deficiency model rather than what was required for optimal health.