We have in previous columns commented on the so-called ‘Blue Zones’ in the world that are famous for having the highest proportion of centenarians among their populations. Certain regions in Greece, Sardinia, and Costa Rica as well as the populations of Okinawa and Loma Linda, California have been extensively studied over the past 30 years to clarify the reasons why so many of their people reach the 100-year life span.

And, as we have reported, what these populations have in common is that they adhere to a mostly plant-based diet, regularly consume legumes (which are beans, peas, and lentils), and remain active in their old age. Our reporting on the ‘Blue Zones’ has been of course in support of METI’s efforts to highlight the beneficial effects of a whole food plant-based (WFPB) diet that we promote for the prevention and reversal of non-communicable diseases (NCD) like Type2 diabetes, heart and vascular disease, and cancer. 

METI’s ‘message of hope’ to NCD sufferers is based on its 10-year clinical experience and the extensive medical literature over the past 30 years that has convincingly proven that the WFPB diet reverses these medical conditions, provided the diet is strictly adhered to. Most of the results of this medical research we have observed in our own clinical practice. It is our routine experience that diabetics –even those that have been treated with drugs for decades - can regain normal blood sugar levels within a month by strictly following the WFPB diet. 

We have also reported on the work of Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn from the Cleveland Clinic in the US, for example, who has shown that the number one killer of men and women, heart disease, can be largely halted or reversed, and the risk of heart attack almost eliminated, with the help of a WFPB diet. The marked benefits reported by Esselstyn and many others evidently are based on a variety of protective mechanisms associated with consuming this diet. The scientific community has been trying to unravel those mechanisms for the past several decades. 

And so, in the year 2000, a new human hormone, going by the unassuming name of FGF21 (which stands for ‘fibroblast growth factor’) was discovered by Japanese researchers. FGF21 is produced mainly by the liver and could well help to explain why the WFPB diet is so effective in reversing NCD. Subsequent research on animals has confirmed that it is considered 'a key agent for the promotion of metabolic and artery health, leanness, and … longevity’. It is not surprising then that it has been dubbed ‘the longevity hormone’. ‘Inject it into fat monkeys, and they lose body weight without reducing food intake, and not just a little—a 27 percent drop in body fat (while) eating the same amount’! 

Since its discovery, an intense research effort has been expended by giant pharmaceutical drug companies. Their researchers have concluded that FGF21 could potentially be used as a hormone therapy in mammals (which include humans!), to extend lifespan… and much more. Indeed, the idea that one drug could treat obesity, diabetes, dyslipidemia (like high cholesterol), and hypertension all at once might have seemed impossible a few years ago but is now a tantalizing and exciting prospect. 

Unfortunately, you can’t just give people straight FGF21 because it gets rapidly broken down in the body; so, you would have to give injections every hour or two around the clock, which is quite impractical. So, drug companies have been trying to patent a variety of longer-acting FGF21 chemical substitutes. But then, what so often happens when natural products are replaced by chemical engineering products, the side effects of these newly designed drugs started cropping up. And now, everything is back to the drawing board… But, may we ask, wouldn’t it be more commonsensical to explore more natural ways to increase the production by the liver of this ‘longevity hormone’? That we will discuss in next week’s Column! 

We invite you to visit METI’s Healthy Living Clinic at House No. 51 at Motootua (across from the Kokobanana Restaurant) to become acquainted with METI’s whole food plant-based diet and Lifestyle Change programs. Or call us at 30550. Learning how to follow these Programs might be your ‘game changer’!