The five foods that add years to your life, according to a Harvard expert

2023-08-12 20:46:50

feeding It is one of the keys to health and in fact, if we follow some guidelines, our general condition will improve and we can even gain longevity if we eat certain things.

is what holds Linh BuiPhD from Harvard University who has developed an article which collects which are the five foods that give us more years of life and, even more, that are beneficial to the environment.

The work builds on previous studies that identified foods beneficial to both health and the environment —such as whole grains, fruit, non-starchy vegetables, nuts, and unsaturated oils— as well as foods that could be harmful to the environment and human health, such as eggs and red and processed meats. The new findings suggest that eating more planet-friendly foods may help reduce the risk of death from causes such as cancer, heart disease, respiratory disease, and neurodegenerative diseases.

“We proposed a new diet score that incorporates the best current scientific evidence on the effects of food on both health and the environment,” says Linh Bui. “The results confirmed our hypothesis that a higher diet score Healthy Planetary Diet was associated with a lower risk of mortality,” says Bui.

Based on existing evidence, plant-based foods are associated with a lower risk of chronic diseases such as heart disease, colorectal cancer, diabetes, and strokeas well as a lower environmental impact in terms of water use, land use, nutrient pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.

With the new study, the researchers aimed to create a simple tool that policy makers and public health professionals could use to develop strategies aimed at improving public health and tackling the climate crisis.

“As millennial, I have always been concerned with mitigating human impact on the environment,” Bui explains. A sustainable dietary pattern must not only be healthy, but also consistent within the planetary limits of Emissions of greenhouse gases and other environmental parameters”.

So was the study

To create their Planetary Health Dietary Index (IDSP), the researchers reviewed existing research on relationships between various food groups and health outcomes based on the EAT-Lancet reference diet that takes into account the environmental impacts of dietary practices. of food production. Next, they applied the index to analyze the results among more dand 100,000 participants in two large cohort studies conducted in the United States. The data set included more than 47,000 deaths during a follow-up period spanning more than three decades, from 1986 to 2018.

In general, they found that people in the highest quintile (the top fifth of participants) for PHDI had a 25% lower risk of death from any cause compared to those in the lowest quintile. Higher PHDI scores were associated with a 15% lower risk of death from cancer or cardiovascular disease, a 20% lower risk of death from neurodegenerative disease, and a 50% lower risk of death from respiratory disease.

Bui cautioned that the PHDI does not necessarily reflect all foods and their relationship to major diseases in all countries. People with specific health problems, religious restrictions or different accessibility to food due to their socioeconomic situation or food availability may have difficulties in following a more sustainable eating pattern. New research could help elucidate and address these barriers.

“We hope that researchers can tailor this index to specific food cultures and validate its relationship to chronic disease and environmental impacts such as carbon footprint, water footprint and land use in other populationsBuu concludes.