- In middle age, a person can extend their life by ten years by switching from an unhealthy to a nutritious diet.
- Consuming a lot of fruits, nuts, and whole grains may have the largest impact, according to a study.
- In the study, the projected increases in life expectancy increased with the magnitude of the dietary modification.
A recent study reveals that making the switch from an unhealthy to a good diet in middle age could extend a person’s life by nearly ten years.
The study, which was published on Monday in Nature Food, used data from 467,354 participants in the UK Biobank, a sizable biomedical database and research resource that contains genetic and health information on half a million UK participants. The model used in the study was designed to estimate how changes in lifestyle could affect an individual’s life expectancy.
According to the model, individuals in their 40s may increase their life expectancy by about 10 years if they changed from an unhealthy diet to one linked with longevity. An additional 10.8 years for women and 10.4 years for males were linked to the alteration.
In the meantime, switching from an overtly unhealthy diet to the longevity-related diet was associated with a 3.1-year increase in life expectancy for women in their 40s and a slightly higher 3.4-year increase for males. A increase of around five years in life expectancy was linked to individuals in their 70s making the same dietary adjustments.
“Gains in life expectancy are lower the longer the delay in the initiation of dietary improvements, but even for those initiating dietary change at age 70 years, the gain in life expectancy is about half of that achieved by 40-year-old adults,” the researchers reported.
Overall, however, they discovered that increases in life expectancy were predicted to be proportionate to the degree of dietary adjustments made towards a healthy diet.
Fruit, nuts, and whole grains were linked to the largest increases in life expectancy.
Whole grains, nuts, and fruits seemed to have the greatest beneficial effects on life expectancy, according to studies from the Universities of Glasgow, Scotland, and Bergen, Norway. According to the study, processed meat and sugar-sweetened beverages had the strongest correlation with death.
A diet high in dairy products, vegetables, nuts, and legumes and moderate in whole grains, fruit, fish, and white meat was linked to longevity, the researchers’ analysis revealed.
It also includes a comparatively modest consumption of processed meat, refined cereals, red meat, and beverages with added sugar.
There are similarities between this and the Mediterranean diet, which is regarded as one of the healthiest eating plans out there and places an emphasis on whole grains, lean proteins, fruits, and vegetables, as well as healthy fats. It also restricts processed, sugar-filled, and fried meals.
The unhealthful eating pattern, which was most strongly linked to an earlier death, included significant amounts of processed meat, eggs, refined grains, sugar-sweetened beverages, and little to no whole grains, vegetables, fruits, nuts, legumes, fish, milk, and dairy products.
The study’s authors stated that the relationship between a good diet and a longer life expectancy was a correlation rather than a cause. To try to avoid the results being skewed by variables like smoking and socioeconomic position, they did, however, make adjustments to their model.
They added that they did not take into account the potential for food patterns to change over time.
Another drawback, according to the study, was that the UK Biobank does not track participants’ rice consumption, despite the fact that this is a significant food for many immigrant groups.
The results are consistent with the body of knowledge regarding the kinds of diets that help people live longer, better lives, according to Business Insider interview with Professor Gunter Kunhle, a nutritional scientist from the University of Reading in the United Kingdom who was not involved in the study.
Additionally, keep in mind that a simulated population differs greatly from an actual one. It can be challenging for a 40-year-old to transition from decades of an unhealthy diet to decades of reasonable, balanced eating, even though it is theoretically feasible and sensible to do so. This study offers more proof of the benefits of encouraging a nutritious, balanced diet for all people at every stage of life.”