5 Foods That Could Help You Live 10 Years Longer: Study

• Replacing an unhealthy diet with a healthy diet in middle age can add 10 years to your life.
• Research shows that eating more whole grains, nuts, and fruit can make a big difference.
• In this study, the greater the change in diet, the greater the increase in life expectancy.

Switching from an unhealthy diet to a healthy one in middle age could add nearly a decade to your life, a new study suggests.

of studyThe paper, published Monday in Nature Food, is based on a model used to estimate how lifestyle changes affect a person’s life expectancy and includes genetic and health information. We used data on 467,354 participants from the UK Biobank, a large biomedical database and research resource. to 500,000 participants in the UK.

This model is based on people in their 40s who have changed their diet from unhealthy foods. Meals related to longevity Their lifespan can be extended by about 10 years. This change made women 10.8 years older than her and men 10.4 years older than her.

On the other hand, moving from an average diet to a diet associated with longevity, rather than an obviously unhealthy diet, increased life expectancy by 3.1 years for women in their 40s, and by just 3.4 years for men. It turns out that making similar dietary changes in your 70s can add about five years to your life expectancy.

“The later you start making dietary changes, the lower the gain in life expectancy, but even for people who begin dietary changes at age 70, the gain in life expectancy is about half that of adults at age 40,” the authors write. Ta.

But overall, we found that the greater the change to a healthier diet, the greater the expected benefits. Average life was.

Whole grains, nuts, and fruits were associated with the greatest longevity gains

Researchers from the University of Bergen, Norway, and the University of Glasgow, Scotland, whole grain, nuts, and fruits appear to have the greatest positive change in life expectancy. Studies show that sugary drinks and processed meats are most closely associated with mortality.

According to researchers’ analysis, diets associated with longevity consisted of high intakes of milk, dairy products, vegetables, nuts, and legumes, and moderate intakes of whole grains, fruits, fish, and white meat. .

It also includes relatively low intakes of eggs, red meat, and sugar-sweetened beverages, as well as low intakes of refined grains and processed meats.

this is, mediterranean dietIt is widely considered one of the healthiest ways to eat, emphasizing whole grains, lean proteins, fruits and vegetables, and healthy fats, and avoiding processed, sugary, and fried foods. Limit.

Unhealthy dietary patterns are most closely associated with early death, including whole grains, vegetables, fruits, nuts, legumes, fish, milk, dairy products, white meat, and significant amounts of processed meat, eggs, and refined foods. contained no or only a limited amount. Cereals and sugary drinks.

The authors acknowledged that their study showed a correlation, not causation, between a healthy diet and longer life expectancy. However, we adjusted the model to prevent results from being skewed by factors such as smoking and socioeconomic status.

They also did not take into account the possibility that dietary patterns may change over time.

A further limitation is that UK Biobank does not measure participants’ rice consumption, which is particularly important for many immigrant groups, the study said.

Professor Gunter Kunle, a nutritionist at the University of Reading in the UK who was not involved in the study, told Business Insider: “The findings of this study are consistent with known evidence regarding the type of diet that leads to longer, healthier lives for individuals.

“It should also be noted that the modeled population is very different from the real population. A 40-year-old makes the switch from decades of unhealthy eating habits to decades of sensible, balanced nutrition. While it is technically possible and sensible to do so, this paper provides additional evidence showing why promoting a healthy, balanced diet at every stage of life is good for all of us. Offers.”