A new study found that a healthier diet can prolong the life span of middle-aged people by six to seven years, while among young people, it can prolong the life span by about ten years.
Researchers have collected a large amount of data on diet and life expectancy, as well as data from the global disease burden study, which provides a summary of the health status of people in many countries.
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Combined with these data, the author can estimate how life expectancy changes with the continuous changes in the intake of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, refined grains, nuts, beans, fish, eggs, dairy products, red meat, processed meat and sugary drinks.
In the end, the author can get the best longevity diet.
According to their research, the best diet includes eating more beans (beans, peas and lentils), whole grains (oats, barley and brown rice) and nuts, and eating less red meat and processed meat.
Researchers found that for women and men from the United States, China and Europe, eating the best diet from the age of 20 will prolong life expectancy by 65,438+00 years.
They also found that changing from the western diet to the best diet at the age of 60 will prolong life expectancy by 8 years. For an 80-year-old person, life expectancy may increase by nearly three and a half years.
But because people can't completely change their eating habits, the researchers also calculated what would happen if people changed from a western diet to a diet between the best diet and a typical western diet.
They found that even this diet, which they called "feasible method diet", can still prolong the life expectancy of 20-year-old women by more than 6 years and men by more than 7 years.
These results show that long-term dietary optimization at any age may have a significant impact on life expectancy. However, if these changes start early in life, the benefits are greatest.
Although in many cases, meta-analysis is the best choice because of the large amount of data, they are still biased, which may lead to the important differences between studies being ignored.
It is also worth noting that the quality of evidence to reduce the consumption of eggs and white meat is lower than that of whole grains, fish, processed meat and nuts.
This study doesn't take into account some things. First of all, this is an estimate. If we want to do an empirical study, we need to look at the life expectancy of the population in the next 10 year.
The study also did not take into account past health conditions. This means that the benefits of diet on life expectancy only reflect the average value, which may vary from person to person and depend on various other factors, such as persistent health problems, heredity and lifestyle, such as smoking, drinking and exercise.
But the current evidence is still very reliable and comes from many studies on this subject. These findings are also consistent with previous studies, which show that moderate but long-term diet and lifestyle improvements can bring significant health benefits-including longevity.
At present, it is not completely clear why diet can prolong life. But the best diet found by researchers in this study includes many foods rich in antioxidants. Some studies on human cells show that these substances may slow down or prevent cell damage, which is one of the reasons for aging.
However, research in this area is still in progress, so we are not sure whether antioxidants as part of the diet will have the same effect. Many foods included in this study also have anti-inflammatory properties, which may also delay the onset and aging process of various diseases.
Of course, it may be difficult to completely change your diet. But even a partial change can bring benefits. After all, the food that constitutes a healthy diet is healthy in itself.