2023-11-20 20:45:35
More whole grains, nuts, fruit. Fewer sugary drinks and processed meats. If a growing share of the population converts to a healthy diet, life expectancy soars and can increase by up to 10 years. This is what emerges from a study conducted in the UK and published in ‘Nature Food’, which shows the concrete impact of the choice to move towards healthy habits at the table. In the United Kingdom, the authors explain, it is estimated that unhealthy diets cause more than 75 thousand premature deaths every year, of which almost 17 thousand in the age group between 15 and 70 years. The British government and the Public Health England agency have encouraged the population to adopt healthier eating patterns, according to the recommendations of the ‘Eatwell’ guide. Did it help? And did a possible switch have observable effects? This is what the team – coming from different universities, from the University of Bergen in Norway to the University of Glasgow and Newcastle in the UK – tried to understand.
Using data from the UK Biobank, the study authors found that changing from unhealthy dietary patterns to diets based on the Eatwell guide’s dietary recommendations is associated with an 8.9 and 8.6 year increase in life expectancy. of life of 40-year-old men and women respectively. In the same population, a sustained dietary change from unhealthy dietary patterns to dietary patterns associated with longevity was associated with an increase in life expectancy of 10.8 and 10.4 years in males and females, respectively.
“Our results showed that the dietary pattern associated with longevity included a moderate intake of whole grains, fruit, fish and white meat; a high intake of milk and dairy products, vegetables, nuts and legumes; a relatively low consumption of eggs , red meat and sugary drinks; a low intake of refined grains and processed meat”, list the researchers.
Among the useful indications that emerged from the research there is also an indication of which changes at the table have guaranteed greater ‘gains’. The strongest inverse associations with mortality (in terms of risk reduction, therefore) concerned whole grains and dried fruit. While the strongest positive associations with mortality – therefore the factors that affected in such a way as to amplify the risks – concerned sugary drinks and processed meat.
Consequently, increasing consumption of whole grains and nuts and decreasing consumption of sugary drinks and processed meats resulted in the highest gains in life expectancy. The longer the delay in starting the change towards a healthy diet, the smaller the gains. Although, experts point out, even for those who begin the dietary change at the age of 70 the gain in life expectancy has been seen, and has been calculated at approximately half of that achieved by adults aged 40.
“Understanding the contribution of prolonged dietary changes to life expectancy” is therefore important, the scientists conclude, because “it can provide guidance for the development of health policies”.
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