Dr Li says his great-uncle revealed his secret just before his 104th birthday (Image: Getty)
As we get older, most people start thinking about ways that can help us live longer, whether that involves a brisk walk before breakfast every day or the extreme measures of “super biohackers”, who dream of living for 150 years or more.
World-renowned doctor , who has written several books on the relationship between diet and ageing, says that he has learned three key tricks from his great uncle – who was still very active at a remarkable 104 years of age.
Dr Li says that being able to shrug off anger, and learn to live in the moment are two things you can do to ensure a long and happy life, but the surprising third element is a drink you can buy in any supermarket.
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Green tea was pivotal to his great-uncle’s extraordinary health (Image: Getty)
Dr Li adds that “the real thieves of longevity” are cancer, of course, diabetes and cardiovascular disease – which can affect the brain as well as the heart.
He explains: “You want to live long, and you want to have good cognition. You want to be able to remember, you want to be able to problem-solve you want to be able to enjoy life.”
Dr Li is dismissive of longevity obsessives who exist on incredibly restrictive diets, but don’t actually seem to be enjoying their lives.
“You hear these numbers from the the the sort of the people who are Ultra biohackers who are really dreaming of super longevity,” he added. “I’ve even heard the term – I think Peter Diamandis said this – ‘Escape velocity of Ageing’.
“How do you escape? You’re just going to live forever? I think that’s an intriguing idea but I think it misses the point of our humanity.”
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He lived close to where the tea was grown [Stock image] (Image: Getty)
Instead, he says, we should be following the example of his 104-year-old great uncle, and in particular follow his example of drinking plenty of green tea.
“He lived in China, and drank probably six to 10 cups of green tea every single day of his life,” he added.
“He was very physically active, he was really plugged into his community and had a big support network. He kept his mind really active and these are these are recurrent themes of people who live a really long time.”
The green tea, produced very close to the house where Dr Li’s great-uncle lived, contains catechins, thought to be the dominant polyphenols in green tea, which are widely considered to offer significant health benefits.
Teh elderly gent would walk a few miles to enjoy his tea with friends [stock image] (Image: Getty)
Interestingly, Dr Li adds that there were significant differences in tea depending on when the leaves were picked.
He added: “If you actually have catechins from regular tea picked earlier in the season you don’t have as much caffeine because caffeine is developed by the tea plant as its own natural pesticide. Early in the season there not that many bugs around so the caffeine is very low.”
But a key part of his great-uncle’s daily routine, Dr Li adds, is that he would walk to a temple a short distance from his home every day to drink his green tea with a group of friends.
“He would just sip tea all day long. He had to walk to a temple kind of place where he would sit with his friends every day. He had to walk to get to his tea and those three things; mindset – trying to be a little chill – a lot of green tea over many decades and then exercising.”