Center for Food As Medicine & Longevity Shares Weekly Research Digest
The organization's Food For Change initiative pilots a Farm Saturation Model aimed at addressing food insecurity in New York.
The Center for Food As Medicine & Longevity has released its weekly news and research digest for the week of August 21, 2026, covering original articles, research studies, and updates on its community programs.
International & Community Programs
The Center for Food As Medicine & Longevity's YouTube channel features full panel discussions, summit highlights, and evidence-based strategies on using diet to combat disease and extend healthspan, available at youtube.com/@foodmedcenter.
The organization also maintains Disease, Wellness, and Healthspan Evidenced-based Food as Medicine Research and Resource Guides, along with NYC Food Access Guides, described as updated food pantry and soup kitchen information for New York City that is refreshed daily.
The Center for Food as Medicine & Longevity's Food For Change program is piloting a Farm Saturation Model in New York City's South Bronx. Seven hydroponic farms are expected to be operating by Fall 2026, with a long-term goal of 40 farms producing more than 30,000 pounds of fresh produce every month. According to the release, if successful, the model could change how the world fights hunger. Those interested in getting involved can email info@foodmedcenter.org.
Thriving, Healthspan and Longevity
People Who Lived Past 110 Had More of an Unusual Immune Cell. Scientists Don't Yet Know If It Helped. (NPR, 2026-08-19)
Summary: Can your immune system get better with age? In the very oldest people, maybe. Researchers led by Kosuke Hashimoto at the University of Osaka drew blood from 10 supercentenarians — people who've lived past 110 — and compared their immune cells with those of adults over 70. It's a rare group; Hashimoto counts only about 150 in all of Japan. The super-agers carried a much higher share of one particular immune cell, the same kind that shows up in people whose bodies are fighting certain cancers. The twist: none of these 110-year-olds had any sign of cancer. Hashimoto's theory, published in the journal Cell Reports, is that around age 100 the immune system shifts into a new phase, retooling to hunt the abnormal cells that aging bodies increasingly make. Interesting idea. Not a proven one. David Masopust, who studies the immune system at the University of Minnesota, calls it a great hypothesis that would need a mountain more work — and says there's no telling whether this cell helped these people reach 110 or just came along for the ride. Ten people can't answer that
A New Paper Says Eating Less Protein Could Help You Live Longer. Nutrition Experts Say That's Backwards for Older Adults. (STAT, 2026-08-20)
Summary: Should you eat less protein to live longer? A new review says maybe. Nutrition experts say don't — especially if you're older. In the journal Cell Press Blue, researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison pulled together 350 earlier studies and argued that eating less protein promotes a longer, healthier life. The catch is big: much of that evidence comes from mice, and the authors themselves concede the effect on human lifespan is unknown. Stuart Phillips, a muscle researcher at McMaster University, called it 'a beautiful mouse story, sold as human advice.' In people over 65, he said, eating too little protein is tied to the opposite of what you'd want: getting weaker, falling more, and dying sooner. Other experts agreed — as you age, your body holds onto muscle less easily, so you need more protein, not less. The danger is sharpest for people on GLP-1 weight-loss drugs like Ozempic, which eat into muscle. So how much? U.S. guidelines suggest about 1.2 to 1.6 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight — roughly 80 to 110 grams a day for a 150-pound adult, which most Americans already hit. Phillips' real point: that means beans, fish, dairy and some meat, not protein bars bolted onto a junk diet. If you're older, sedentary or on a GLP-1, this isn't the paper to cut your protein over.
Men Who Took Cialis Had Fewer Heart Deaths and Less Dementia. (NPR, 2026-08-17)
Summary: Should you take an erectile dysfunction drug to live longer? A lot of people online think so. Tadalafil — the ED drug better known as Cialis — is being talked up by Stanford's Andrew Huberman and tech mogul Bryan Johnson, and sold by online clinics, as an all-purpose longevity pill for the heart and brain. NPR's Will Stone reports the enthusiasm rests on a real but shaky signal. In studies of men prescribed it, mostly for ED, the numbers look striking: Robert Kloner of the Huntington Medical Research Institutes analyzed more than 8,000 men and found 55% fewer cardiovascular deaths and 44% fewer deaths overall. A separate look at more than 500,000 patients tied the drug to 32% less dementia. The problem: these studies are observational, so they show tadalafil travels with better health, not that it causes it. Men who seek out ED drugs may just be healthier or better cared for to begin with. There are no randomized trials, and almost none of this includes women. As Cleveland Clinic's Steve Nissen put it, no harm found isn't the same as no harm. Meanwhile clinics like AgelessRx sell low-dose tadalafil for about $70 a month for 'longevity.' It's cheap and generally safe — but nobody has shown it extends anyone's life, and this isn't a reason to start a drug on your own.
Moderate Coffee Drinking May Be Good for Your Heart, but That Does Not Mean High-Dose Caffeine or Energy Drinks Offer the Same Benefit (Circulation, 2026-07-20)
Summary: Good news for coffee drinkers, with a catch. The American Heart Association reviewed the research and found moderate coffee is generally tied to lower heart-disease and stroke risk. But caffeine isn't the same thing. High-dose caffeine and energy drinks weren't as reassuring, and unfiltered coffee (like French press) can raise your 'bad' LDL cholesterol. So don't take a coffee benefit and assume it applies to a caffeine pill or an energy drink packed with other stuff. If you enjoy coffee, this is a green light. Just skip the energy drinks, and if your cholesterol runs high, use a filter.
People Who Followed the MIND Diet Most Closely Declined More Slowly on Memory Tests, but the Randomized Trial Still Found No Clear Cognitive Benefit (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2026-07-15) (Peer-reviewed research)
Summary: The MIND diet — lots of leafy greens, berries, nuts, beans and fish — gets sold as brain protection. Does it work? The newest look is mixed. People who followed it best did decline slower on memory tests. But the real test, where researchers actually assigned the diet, found no clear brain benefit. The problem: careful diet-followers tend to be healthier in lots of other ways, so you can't say the food did it. It's an interesting hint, not proof it prevents dementia. Eat this way if you like it — it's healthy — just don't count on it as a guarantee.
Adults With the Least Lean Mass Were 42% More Likely to Die, but the Study Cannot Tell Us Whether Building Muscle Back Will Help People Live Longer (Journal of Cachexia, Sarcopenia and Muscle, 2026-08) (Peer-reviewed research)
Summary: Muscle matters as you age — and here's a big number behind it. Across more than 1.1 million adults, those with the least lean tissue (muscle and bone) were about 42% more likely to die from any cause. That fits what researchers keep learning: hold onto your muscle. But read it carefully. This kind of study just watches people; it can't prove low muscle is what's killing them, or that building it back adds years. Plenty of things lower muscle and raise death risk at the same time. Still, the fix is safe and simple: eat enough protein and do strength exercise.
People Who Ate Healthier Diets Over Many Years Showed Slower Biological Aging on DNA-Based Clocks, but That Does Not Prove They Will Live Longer (The Journal of Nutrition, 2026-06) (Peer-reviewed research)
Summary: Can eating well for years actually slow how fast your body ages? A long-running study offers a hint. People with healthier diets over time showed slower aging on 'clocks' that estimate your biological age from chemical tags on your DNA. Slower ticking sounds great — but those clocks are just estimates, not the same as living longer or avoiding disease. And because the study only watched people, it can't prove the food caused it; healthy eaters differ in lots of ways. So take it as one more reason the basics pay off over decades — vegetables, whole grains, beans, fish — not proof of a reset button.
