I’M A DANISH LONGEVITY DOCTOR. THIS IS WHY I’M GOING TO LIVE LONGER THAN THE AVERAGE BRITISH MAN
At 10 years old, Professor Morten Scheibye-Knudsen (now 46) watched his grandfather succumb to Parkinson’s disease, followed by his grandmother, who no longer recognised him after developing Alzheimer’s.
“In my youthful naivety, I remember feeling powerless and thinking it seems weird that we can’t do anything about this,” he says. “Why do we all have to wither away like that?”
So he made it his life mission to understand why and how we age, first training as a medical doctor at the University of Copenhagen and working as a physician, before moving into longevity research.
During an eight-year stint at the National Institute of Ageing in the US, and for the past 12 years in his Copenhagen laboratory, he has investigated the cells and organelles that keep us alive – often testing anti-ageing experiments on himself to try to slow his biological clock.
“It may sound crazy – this whole idea of experimenting on myself – but my aim is to still be around and healthy for when my three children have their own children,” he explains.
It’s a deeply personal motivation as history cruelly repeated itself with Prof Morten’s own parents – his father died five years ago with Parkinson’s, and his mother passed away last year after developing Alzheimer’s.
“I don’t think my own children can remember my parents without disease. If I can be in my grandchildren’s lives and still be healthy, all of this will be worth it,” he says.
In some ways, his anti-ageing mission has been well-supported by the country he lives in. There’s a lot that Denmark gets right when it comes to health, nutrition and wellbeing – from an enviable work-life balance to a penchant for cycling.
The most recent data suggests that, as a Danish man, Prof Morten will outlive his British counterparts by around a year, but most importantly more of his years will be spent in good health.
Their obesity and cancer survival rates are better too – aided by the Danish government’s commitment and investment in public health.
With all of this in mind, what can we learn from Prof Morten’s anti-ageing experiments and everything that he does to stay fit and healthy as a Danish man?
Dark chocolate and coffee
In the UK, consumption of sugary and ultra-processed foods (UPFs) is a cause for particular concern. Data shows that UPFs account for 57 per cent of daily energy intake for adults, and 66 per cent for adolescents.
According to a 2024 review, UPFs account for a substantially lower proportion of a Danish adults’ diet at around 25 per cent.
Whilst Prof Morten admits the Danes aren’t perfect by any means when it comes to nutrition, there are lessons to learn from their diet (and the Nordic diet more generally) – including their focus on whole grains and dietary fibre, as well as their fondness for healthy fats like oily fish and seasonal eating.
Whilst eating lots of processed, sugary foods is bad for us, there is a silver lining as Prof Morten has found that drinking lots of coffee and eating dark chocolate are both largely beneficial.
Whilst you may already know that drinking coffee is linked to a reduction in most age-related diseases, including dementia, what’s important to note is that the benefits increase the more you drink.
In fact, Prof Morten tries to have four or five cups of coffee each day. Whilst he opts for black coffee in the morning, some evidence suggests that adding a splash of milk can increase your uptake of the beneficial compounds (polyphenols and flavonoids) – perhaps because they dissolve better in fat.
He therefore likes to treat himself to a mug of creamy coffee every now and again.
Nuts and chocolate contain many of the same health-promoting molecules. However, Prof Morten warns, if you want to reap these benefits, it needs to be dark chocolate as milk and white are both very high in sugar.
Cycling and strength training
Cycling is ubiquitous in Denmark. Cars are incredibly expensive and their cycling infrastructure is safe and extensive so it just makes sense.
On average, Danes cycle 1.4km each day and seven in 10 own a bike (this rises to nine in 10 in Copenhagen).
These figures mark a strong contrast to the UK where around 40 per cent of residents own a bike and a significant 70 per cent don’t use it in an average week.
An active lifestyle is crucial for longevity, as Prof Morten knows. “I cycle 10km each day to and from work, although I know I need to do more strength training to optimise my health. Currently, carrying around my young children is the extent of it!
“As we age, we tend to lose muscle and bone mass [which makes us more susceptible to falls, fractures, and frailty]. Getting the pulse racing with a mixture of building up strength and cardio each week is key,” he says.
Cycling fits neatly into that bracket and, whilst Prof Morten sometimes wishes he could avoid getting on his bike in the rain, he knows he will always finish a cycle feeling happier and with stronger muscles and cardiovascular health – all of which are key to ageing well.
Work-life balance and stress management
Coupled with this is the importance of stress management and a good work-life balance. “We have very strong unions in Denmark that make sure we work a maximum of 40 hours per week and we also have five to six weeks of vacation each year,” Prof Morten says. “These types of breaks are very healthy for us – as is taking breaks throughout the day to unwind and de-stress.”
Only 1.1 per cent of Danes have to work 50 or more hours each week, compared to 10.8 per cent in the UK.
This disparity is reflected in 75 per cent of UK adults feeling overwhelmed with stress in the past year, whilst the number of stressed workers in Denmark is unfortunately rising, but still significantly lower at 26 per cent.
“Chronic stress is incredibly bad for us,” Prof Morten says. Research suggests it contributes to accelerated ageing, inflammation, cardiovascular dysfunction, autoimmune diseases and even cancer.
No matter how busy Prof Morten is, he will always make time for his friends and family. “Data suggests having a strong social life can add maybe four years to your life expectancy.
So you can actually put a number on these things and see how important they are,” he says.
Prof Morten’s longevity experiments
Whilst diet, exercise and stress management are key pillars of health, Prof Morten has also implemented a few more “alternative” longevity methods into his life.
As we age, our levels of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) – a key molecule for DNA repair – decrease, he explains. To counter this, he takes an NR (nicotinamide riboside) supplement each day which can increase NAD levels. Evidence shows these supplements may be effective in treating inflammatory conditions like Parkinson’s.
Plus, in a recent clinical trial, his lab found that NR can reduce inflammation in people with “smoker’s lungs” – chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). As inflammation is a strong driver of accelerated lung ageing, minimising it could help these patients live longer.
“We don’t know what the side effects [of taking NR] are yet but I’m willing to take that chance and experiment on myself,” Prof Morten says. “However, as a doctor, I don’t recommend that other people do this because we don’t know what the side effects will be in five or 10 years time.”
The effects of NR are subtle and “they’re not miracle drugs”, Prof Morten says. He believes he sleeps better and dreams more vividly (although he points out this may be a placebo effect) whilst, anecdotally, others have told him the supplement has improved their fitness during exercise.
His biological age is roughly 36, a good decade younger than his chronological age, suggesting his anti-ageing methods have been effective.
He also takes metformin, a medication for diabetes, to control his blood sugar. “This is an FDA approved drug but, once again, I’m taking it at home in a very experimental setting [as a physician who doesn’t have diabetes or any other diseases] so I wouldn’t recommend anyone else do this as we don’t know the long term effects for healthy people,” he warns.
When he takes metformin, it sets off a chain of events in his body – the most important being a process called autophagy. This is a recycling process, of sorts, which degrades old parts of our cells to maintain their health and function. This process can be impaired by high blood sugar.
Prof Morten references his aforementioned sweet tooth and says that – despite restricting his sugar intake – he still eats far too much of it.
“Metformin is a much stronger drug whilst NR is a supplement, so it has a bigger impact on the body,” Prof Morten says. “It definitely impacts my hunger levels and, because of the effect it has on my cells, I’ve found it can sometimes cause muscle fatigue similar to that felt during strenuous exercise.”
In 2013, Prof Morten helped to conduct a study in the US which found that giving mice metformin improved their lifespan and health. “We know that blood sugar is a very strong risk – for example – for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.
Because I have a family history of these diseases, I want to make sure my blood sugar is very well controlled so I’m more than willing to experiment on myself,” he concludes.
“We’ll see in 30 years, when I’m in my seventies, if my methods worked.”
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