Nutrition has a role to play when evaluating how long a person lives but it is not as significant as one might think. Biomarkers are the ultimate variables which measure the risk of chronic diseases, they are not determined by food intake. Rather, several diets are capable of sustaining optimal biomarkers, and even one can be on a less than optimal diet, but still have normal biomarkers, thereby not raising the risk of illnesses. However, in order to keep biomarkers in the baseline risk category, it is essential to manage body weight, calorie consumption, and adherence to a predominately whole food diet sensibly.