According to a new study, many healthy eating patterns can help you live longer, as long as those eating habits focus on whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts and legumes.
For the study, researchers at Harvard University looked at data from more than 75,000 women and more than 44,000 men who completed a series of dietary questionnaires over 36 years from their early 50s. None of the participants had a history of cancer or heart disease.
The scientists rated their diets based on how well they followed one of four different diets, including a plant-based diet and the Mediterranean diet. The other two diets were the Healthy Eating Index, which aligns with the US Dietary Guidelines for Americans, and the Alternative Healthy Eating Index developed by Harvard, which takes into account the link between what we eat and the risk of chronic disease.
People who followed any of these healthy eating patterns most closely were up to 20% less likely to die from all causes during the study and were also significantly less likely to die from typical causes like cancer, heart disease and respiratory disease, researchers. reported on January 9 at JAMA internal medicine. People from all racial and ethnic groups in the study had a lower risk of premature death when they followed any of these healthy diets.
“The good news from this study is that almost anyone can benefit from adopting healthy diets, regardless of race and ethnicity,” says Frank Hu, MD, MPH, PhD, lead author of the study, professor and chairman of the nutrition department. at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health in Boston.
No culture has the “healthiest diet”
One limitation of the study is that the researchers relied on the participants to accurately remember and report their eating habits over time, which allowed people to misrepresent how they actually ate. .
Even so, the results offer new evidence that U.S. dietary guidelines supporting a wide range of eating habits — including a variety of foods popular in different cultures — can indeed help people live longer, healthier lives.
“Because there are a variety of healthy diets, it’s not necessary to stick to just one diet,” says Dr. Hu. “In practice, individuals can choose a healthy dietary pattern based on their health status and cultural traditions.”
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“That this finding is consistent across racial and ethnic groups is not surprising, since we are all biologically identical,” says Michal Melamed, MD, professor of medicine, pediatrics, epidemiology and community health. population at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, New York, who did not participate in the study.
“People can find healthy eating habits in all cultures, as long as they stay away from highly processed foods and saturated fats,” says Dr. Melamed. “Try to eat a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains and nuts. Eating fish and other sources of unsaturated fats is also good.