Longevity diets are usually recommended to be vegetarian, but in February 2026, a study from a team at Fudan University found among the elderly in China that people who have not eaten meat at all for a long time have a lower probability of becoming centenarians. This difference is even more obvious among underweight elderly people. This reminds us that in a real aging society, protein intake may be one of the important factors affecting longevity.
So why might eating meat be associated with longevity? Do Chinese elderly eat enough protein now? Is there really a causal clue between eating meat and longevity?
Is there any relationship between eating meat and longevity?
First, let’s look at a change that is happening. In recent years, a phenomenon worthy of attention has emerged among the elderly in China: dietary protein intake has shown an overall downward trend.
A study based on the China Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (CHNS) analyzed dietary changes among people over 60 years old in China from 1991 to 2018. Results showed that the average daily protein intake of older adults dropped from 63.3 grams to 57.8 grams, with a significant increase in the proportion of people consuming less than recommended levels [2]. This means that in real life, many elderly people are gradually on the verge of insufficient protein intake.
This decline is noteworthy because protein is important to health in old age, and goes beyond supplemental nutrition. Adequate protein intake also helps maintain muscle mass, body strength, and immune function and is also associated with lower inflammation levels and better functional status.
Animal proteins - including meat, fish, eggs and dairy products - usually contain a more complete structure of essential amino acids and are therefore more efficient in maintaining muscle synthesis. They are also an ideal source of high-quality protein for the elderly. This also provides a reasonable explanation direction for the findings of the following study.
Against this background, the Fudan University team used data from the China Elderly Health and Longevity Survey (CLHLS) to conduct a long-term follow-up study on 5,203 elderly people aged 80 and above, including 1,459 elderly people who eventually lived to 100 years old, and 3,744 control subjects who did not reach centenarians.
The results of the study show that people who adhere to a vegetarian diet for a long time are less likely to become centenarians than people who eat a combination of plant-based foods and animal-based foods. Further analysis found that among people with a body mass index below 18.5, the rate of becoming centenarians was significantly lower if they did not eat meat for a long time.
This finding suggests that age and physical condition are important when discussing dietary health. Older people are often more susceptible to nutritional deficiencies and muscle loss. For young people, controlling total calories and reducing processed meat may be more important; but for people over 80 years old, ensuring nutritional intake and avoiding protein deficiency has become a more realistic problem.
Since eating meat and taking in enough protein is so important for the elderly, the question becomes, how should we eat to truly realize this benefit?
How to eat protein?
Can we really help the elderly live longer?
1
Sources should be diverse
The richer the protein source, the less likely the elderly are to become frail.
In a cohort study of 2216 older Chinese adults, 541 developed frailty during 4 years of follow-up. And people whose diets were richer in protein sources - such as meat, fish, eggs and beans - had lower rates of frailty.
The study also found that dietary patterns with meat and fish as the main source of protein had about half the frailty rate of those in the lowest group.
Frailty is not just about reduced physical strength. It is often accompanied by muscle loss, reduced mobility, and weakened immune function. It is also associated with an increased risk of falls, hospitalization, and even death. Therefore, maintaining adequate and diverse sources of protein in the elderly's diet can help maintain body function and quality of life.
2
Be early
If source diversity is related to "how to eat" in old age, then the impact of protein has actually begun to appear at an earlier stage of life, which reminds us that we cannot wait until old age to start paying attention to this matter.
In a long-term study of 48,000 women, researchers followed for decades and found that those who consumed higher amounts of protein in midlife were more likely to maintain good physical function and cognitive status in later life [4]. About 7.6% of the study sample met the criteria for "healthy aging," which is to be free of major chronic diseases while maintaining good mental health and physical function.
Further analysis showed that when the proportion of protein in the diet increased, whether it was animal protein or plant protein, the proportion of people achieving healthy aging increased, that is, having better health status in old age. This shows that adequate protein intake may not only affect the length of life, but is also closely related to the quality of life in later life.
Seeing this, the value of protein and eating meat to longevity and healthy aging is relatively clear. But I also want to remind you that it is indeed an important piece of the puzzle of longevity, but it is not the whole story.
Longevity is not just about “eating or not eating meat”
Diet is not the only determinant of longevity; many other aspects of life also influence health and longevity.
In a long-term study of more than 500,000 Chinese adults, researchers found that a person's life expectancy free of major chronic diseases after the age of 40 was significantly longer after the age of 40 if a person followed a combination of healthy lifestyle practices—including eating properly, exercising regularly, not smoking, not drinking too much, and maintaining a healthy weight.
Specifically, after the age of 40, men who follow a healthy lifestyle can gain an average of 6.3 years of life without major diseases, while women can gain about 4.2 years of life.
Judging from these studies, the longevity diet does not pursue extremes, but emphasizes a balanced structure. For many Chinese families, an ordinary home-cooked meal with meat, vegetables, and staple food is often closer to the essence of a healthy diet than any single dietary pattern.
What is truly related to longevity is not just a certain dietary habit, but a long-term healthy lifestyle.
