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Those of us who’ve had relatives living to superlative old age might experience some cognitive dissonance over today’s protein craze. My great grandma, who lived to 101, raised a dozen children through the Depression, and couldn’t have fed her whole brood with 100 grams of animal protein even if her native Italian diet had considered that normal.
This weekend on Instagram, Blue Zones creator Dan Buettner offered some alternative food for thought: “Are Americans too obsessed with protein? The answer is yes.”
Buettner continued, “If you look at the world’s longest-lived people—the people in the Blue Zones—they’re eating relatively low-protein diets.”
Instead, Buettner offered, “Sixty-five percent of all their calories come from complex carbohydrates. So it’s very clear: five disparate areas in the world [with] people living 10 years longer than we are, they’re eating mostly complex carbohydrates.”
What are complex carbohydrates?
According to the American Heart Association, complex carbohydrates “are digested more slowly and supply a slower release of glucose into the bloodstream.” The organization mentions examples such as whole-grain products, starchy vegetables (including sweet potatoes), legumes, beans, and fruits.
Recent research has also centered the focus on the effects of complex carbohydrates on gut health. In the journal Nutrients in 2018, it was observed, “A major challenge in affluent societies is the increase in disorders related to gut and metabolic health.” The researchers said over-consumption of “unhealthy foods high in energy, fat, and sugar, and low in dietary fibre is a key environmental factor responsible for this development, which may cause local and systemic inflammation.” They added that dietary fiber is needed “for maintaining a viable and diverse microbiota and production of short-chain fatty acids in the gut.”
In that research, the team found that as plant fibers are metabolized in the gut, they produce short-chain fatty acids that “play a key role not only in colonic health and function,” but also throughout the body. In part, this is from the nutrients they help the body absorb, and their anti-inflammatory effect. (Some research, such as one 2024 study, has drawn a link between lower prevalence of such fatty acids occurring in the gut with the rise in colon cancer diagnoses among younger adults in recent years.)
So, Buettner seems to be suggesting a diet comprised one-third of protein and two-thirds of plants is another dietary approach for good health. What’s more: plenty of plants—namely some oats, quinoa, and beans—deliver on protein as well. Feed your muscles for strength and stability into old age, but feed your gut, too.
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