Your eating habits may be able to predict how long you'll live. This is the finding of a recent study that examined the relationship between diet quality and mortality and was released in The Journal of the American Medical Association. According to the study, people who ate diets higher in nutrients had a lower risk of dying young.
Over a 36-year period, the eating habits of 119,315 people from the Nurses' Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study were evaluated (75,230 women and 44,085 men). The results of four alternative eating patterns, all of which comply to the United States Dietary Guidelines for Americans in some way, were assessed during that time.
The four eating patterns analyzed were:
- The Healthy Eating Index 2015 (HEI), which measures diet quality and adherence and utilizes guidelines from the Dietary Guidelines for Americans in its scoring assessment.
- The Alternate Healthy Eating Index (AHEI), which was created by researchers at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health as an alternative to the original HEI. Like the HEI, it provides scoring but focuses more on reducing chronic disease risk.
- The Alternate Mediterranean Diet (AMED), which measures adaptation to the Mediterranean diet principles.
- The Healthful Plant-based Diet Index (HPDI), which measures adherence to a healthy plant-based diet.
The study discovered there are several strategies to maintain a healthy diet.
Comparing those with the highest and lowest adherence to at least one of the healthy eating indexes, those with the highest adherence had the lowest risk of passing away. The four healthy eating indexes all showed the same result. This result was also consistent across a wide range of racial and ethnic groupings. Additionally, a dose-dependent pattern was seen (the greater the score, the lower the risk for early death from cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, and cancer). Further linked to a lower risk of neurodegenerative disease mortality were higher adherence scores for AMED and AHEI.
From the study, there were numerous important conclusions. It first underlined that there are other strategies to maintain a better diet. It proved that varied dietary patterns might be tailored to any ethnicity or personal choice because there is no "one size fits all" diet. Second, the four eating habits had a lot of characteristics. For instance, every diet was nutrient-rich and abundant in vitamins and minerals. Additionally, they tended to be more plant-based in their approaches. The principal author of the study was Dr. Frank Hu, professor emeritus of nutrition and epidemiology at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Although these diets vary in certain ways, he tells TODAY.com that they all contain significant amounts of nutritious plant foods including fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, and legumes and little to no refined grains, added sugars, sodium, or red or processed meat.
Concentrate on these 5 dietary practises for a longer life:
1. Emphasize fibre
Concentrating on consuming more fibre is one of the best methods to eat more plants. According to a 2019 systematic review and meta-analysis published in the journal Lancet, consuming enough fibre (between 25g and 29g per day) was linked to lower risks for heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, and colon cancer as well as a lower risk of all causes of death.
2. Eat some nuts
In each of the study's four eating patterns, nuts were prioritised. Nuts include a lot of good fats, which may aid with weight management by promoting satiety and fullness. They may also reduce the risk of heart disease and have been linked to greater brain health.
3. Don't be bland.
In the world of plants, colour is essential, and it is produced by substances called phytonutrients that give the plant both colour and advantages. According to studies, eating a variety of fruits and vegetables can also increase lifespan.
4. Select plant and marine protein sources.
Several of the eating patterns highlighted fish, beans, and other legumes. For instance, the AMED pattern promoted the intake of fatty seafood like salmon, which is a great source of omega-3 fatty acids. In contrast, beans and other legumes offer both fibre and protein.
4. Be flexible 5.
The study showed that healthy eating can be customised to the needs of each person and that adopting various strategies within the common themes can have a positive impact on one's health. "For someone to maintain a healthy diet over time, It must be enjoyable. Therefore, it is crucial that people modify these healthy eating habits to match their personal dietary and cultural preferences. Additionally, it's not necessary to follow a single nutritional strategy your entire life. One can alternate between these different healthy diets or design their own flexitarian diet to increase diversity and adherence. However, the fundamental guidelines for a healthy diet ought to stay the same: Eat less red meat and ultra-processed foods that are heavy in sugar, sodium, and refined starch, says Hu, and consume more minimally processed plant foods like fruits, vegetables, nuts, whole grains, and legumes.
If changing your eating habits seems overwhelming, keep in mind that modest steps are better than no movement at all. According to Hu, several healthy eating habits have been linked to both a longer lifespan and a lower risk of developing chronic disease complications. Hu says that increased adherence to the Mediterranean diet, for instance, lowers the incidence of cardiovascular problems among diabetics. Additionally, healthy eating habits have been linked to increased survival rates among those with colorectal or breast cancer.
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