Your diet plays a powerful role in your long-term health, so much so that eating the best foods for longevity may even extend your lifespan. Still, trying to incorporate many new foods into your meals at once can be overwhelming. That’s why we suggest starting with the number-one food for longevity.
Meet the experts: Vicki Koenig, M.S., R.D., C.D.N., a master’s-level registered dietitian in New Paltz, N.Y.; Suzanne Dixon, M.P.H., M.S., R.D.N., a registered dietitian nutritionist and research consulting lead at Humana.
While fruits and vegetables are loaded with powerful plant compounds like antioxidants that support longevity, Vicki Koenig, M.S., R.D., C.D.N., a master’s-level registered dietitian in New Paltz, N.Y., says that the best food you can eat for longevity is legumes. “Legumes show up in virtually every dietary pattern associated with longevity,” she explains. In fact, a 2025 study in the journal Nature Medicine looked at the diets of over 100,000 people over 30 years and found that higher intakes of legumes were linked to greater odds of healthy aging.
What makes legumes so special when it comes to longevity? For starters, they’re a source of high-quality plant protein. “Most of the peoples on the planet rely on beans for a major contribution of protein,” says Koenig. They’re also loaded with fiber, which supports healthy digestion, boosts satiety, and nourishes the gut microbiome. “A healthy gut microbiome is known to help regulate inflammation, lower blood lipids (cholesterol), and regulate immune function,” Suzanne Dixon, M.P.H., M.S., R.D.N., a registered dietitian nutritionist and research consulting lead at Humana, previously told Prevention.
But the benefits don’t stop there. Koenig explains that the combination of protein and fiber means that legumes don’t significantly raise blood glucose levels, making them a good food to help keep your blood sugar stable. One study in Nature Communications even found that a diet rich in legumes helped improve metabolic health in people with prediabetes, potentially delaying the progression to diabetes.
“They are heart-healthy as they help lower bad cholesterol levels,” Koenig adds. Research in The Journal of Nutrition showed that people with high cholesterol who replaced one cup of rice daily with one cup of beans lowered their total and LDL (bad) cholesterol levels after just four weeks. “Legumes are also nutrient-dense with minerals like potassium, iron, and magnesium, plus many antioxidant compounds known as polyphenols,” says Koenig, which help protect the body from oxidative damage and keep systems functioning optimally as you age.
Finally, legumes are inexpensive and easily accessible, making it simple to add more to your meals. To get the perks, Dixon recommended aiming to incorporate at least five servings of legumes such as beans, peas, lentils, chickpeas, and peanuts into your diet every week.
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