Diets That Support Longevity

We might be able to reduce our risk of premature death by nearly 20% and death from cardiovascular disease, cancer, or respiratory disease, just by eating more foods from a choice of four healthy eating patterns and diets that support longevity, according to a study in JAMA Internal Medicine. The investigation followed the eating habits of 44,000 men in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study, and 75,000 women participating in the Nurses’ Health Study, for more than 3 decades. All participants filled out eating questionnaires every four years. People were scored on how closely they followed four eating styles:

• the Mediterranean Diet
• the Healthful Plant-Based Diet
• the Healthy Eating Index, which tracks whether people follow basic US nutritional guidelines
• the Alternate Healthy Eating Index which was developed at Harvard and uses the “best available evidence” to include foods and nutrients most strongly associated with a lower risk of chronic disease

All four plans included in the study focused on eating more whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts and legumes, with less consumption of red meat, processed meats, added sugar and sodium. The highest quintile of diet adherence (referred to as “diet quality” in the study) as compared to the lowest was associated with a roughly 20% reduction in all-cause mortality. The results show there is more than one way to eat well and derive the attendant health benefits, which allows people to have some flexibility in terms of creating their own healthy dietary pattern. It’s worth noting that the study relied on self-reports of food preferences and therefore only showed an association, not a direct cause and effect, between eating habits and health outcomes. Still, the fact that the investigation asked about diets every four years over such a long time frame adds weight to the findings.

See also: Low-Fat Vs. Low-Carb Diets for Longer Life