Dan Buettner has revealed that making a popular food item a regular part of your diet could add up to four years to your life.

The founder of Blue Zone and presenter of the popular Netflix documentary How to Live to 100 said that studies suggest eating beans if you want to live longer.

He shared the advice on Instagram where he told followers to make beans a regular part of their meals.

Dan Buettner reveals that eating beans could add up to four years to your life

Dan Buettner told fans: "Want to add years to your life? Eat beans!

"One of the easiest ways to improve your health and longevity is by eating beans.

"Studies show that they can add up to 4 years to your life expectancy.

"If you want to live longer and healthier, it’s time to make beans a regular part of your meals!"

In an accompanying video, he said: "Eating a cup of beans a day is associated with about four extra years of life expectancy.

"So if you want to know what a 100-year-old was eating to live to be 100, you have to know what she was eating her whole life."

He added: "In my book, the Blue Zones Kitchen, we did what's called a meta analysis.

"We found 155 dietry surveys done over the past 100 years in all five blue zones, and if you look at what people were eating traditionally, they were eating beans amost every single day, about a cup a day."

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Previously, the New York Times best-selling author noted that some foods are less common in blue zone diets.

For instance, he said that people in these regions do eat some meat but probably about five times a month on average.

"Way less fish and fewer eggs than you would think," Buettner added.