National Geographic fellow and author Dan Buettner has revealed that pasta could help us live a longer life.

The explorer told his followers on Instagram that pasta is officially the newest longevity food that people can add to their diets to help them extend their lifespan.

Speaking on the platform, Buettner said: "You guys are going to love this! Pasta is the newest longevity food."

The presenter has become well known for his research into five "blue" zones across the world where inhabitants regularly live well into their old age.

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Buettner added: "We found an area here in the Meditteranean region where they eat pasta every single day - up to a quarter kilo of pasta.

"And guess what? Not only did they live longer but they have one fifth the rate of obesity."

The health expert then explained why pasta could actually be healthy for us and be the key to a longer life.

Buettner continued: "Why? Well, maybe because pasta's tightly packed carbohydrates. Although they're simple carbs, because they're so tightly packed that the glycemic reaction is much lower.

"When you add some tomato sauce, some olive oil and some beans on the top of it - pasta e fagioli - you get a combination of a slow burn food that gives you all the amino acids when you add it with beans that you need for human sustenance".

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The National Geographic fellow quipped: " So for my money - you wanna live longer? Lots and lots of pasta."

Pasta isn't the only 'longevity' food that Buettner has discovered in his popularised 'Blue Zones' either.

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For instance, one of the regions he studied for his Netflix series: How to Live to 100 - the Nicoya Peninsula - has the "lowest rate of middle-age mortality in the world".

The New York Times bestselling author explained that Nicoyans are likely to live well past middle age which Buettner largely attributes to "the best diet human beings have ever invented."

"Their diet is composed of three foods that I would argue are the best diet human beings have ever invented," Buettner commented.

The explorer continued: "Because of these foods, the people living on the Nicoya Peninsula of Costa Rica are two and half times more likely to reach the age of 92 than people living in the United States or Europe."