We all know that eating right can be key to a long and healthy life. But is there a “best diet” for longevity? A recent study set out to answer that question and found five specific diets that indeed seem to add years to your life.
The study led by Yanling Lv at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in China, identified five dietary patterns have been associated with living years longer, regardless of someone’s genetic risk factors for disease, in a study of more than 100,000 people.
Lv and her colleagues looked at the association between diet and longevity by analyzing data from 103,000 participants in the UK Biobank study. The individuals were scored based on how closely they reported adhering to five previously validated healthy diets:
- Mediterranean-type diet
- A plant-based diet
- The DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet
- The DRRD (Diabetes Risk Reduction Diet)
- The AHEI (Alternative Healthy Eating Index)
These five diets vary slightly in their approach, but in general, according to the researchers, “they’re all recommending high intakes and a big variety of vegetables and fruit, they’re all recommending whole grain intake, they’re all recommending lean sources of protein, and many of those are vegetarian proteins.” They also recommend steering away from sugary drinks and ultra-processed foods.
The study’s subjects were followed for a decade, during which time around 4300 of them died. The study found that the participants whose dietary habits closely matched one or more of the five healthy dietary patterns were less likely to have died, even after adjusting for factors like their exercise levels and smoking status.
Based on the data, the researchers calculated that a 45-year-old in the top fifth of healthy eaters – meaning they have close adherence to any of the five healthy diets – can expect to live a year and a half to three years longer than someone in the bottom fifth.
The study also found that people with genetic variants linked to reduced longevity were still less likely to die if they ate well, demonstrating that even if you haven’t got great longevity genes, diet can make a big difference in terms of mortality risk.
The reason these five diets are associated with longer life is probably that they all involve eating a large amount and diversity of plants, which contain fiber, vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients.
Lv wrote in her conclusion, that “high fiber intake had the strongest association with increased longevity, and a high intake of sugar-sweetened beverages had the least. Excess sugar consumption can lead to the development of type 2 diabetes and other metabolic conditions, thereby reducing longevity.”
You can read the complete study which was published in the journal ScienceAdvances, by clicking on the link.