Healthy Food: A Healthy Diet To Live Longer

A 20% increase in the quality of the diet reduces the risk of mortality by 8 to 17%.

More fruits, fish vegetables, fewer meats, and sweet and fatty products, this is the simple solution to increase its life expectancy, according to the results of a study published in the medical journal New England Journal of Medicine. This is the first study to show that improving food quality over a dozen years is associated with lower overall cardiovascular mortality.

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Researchers at Harvard University in the United States have studied the links between changes in diet of nearly 74,000 adults over twelve years (1986-1998) and their risk of dying for the next twelve years (1998- 2010). Throughout the study, participants completed questionnaires about their eating habits. Their health has been evaluated every 4 years.

Researchers analyzed the quality of people's diets using three different scoring methods: the 2010 Alternative Healthy Eating Index, the Mediterranean Diet Score, and the Dietary Diet Score to Reduce Hypertension (DASH). . Each of these methods assigns scores to various types of foods or nutrients. Less nutritious foods have lower scores than healthier foods or nutrients.

Changing Food To Reduce The Risk Of Mortality

The results of the study showed that improving the quality of one's diet over a 12-year period was associated with a reduced risk of death over the next 12 years, regardless of the score used. The food groups that contributed most to improved diet quality were whole grains, fruits, vegetables and fish or omega-3s.

A 20% increase in diet quality (which can be achieved by removing only one serving of red or processed meat for a daily serving of nuts or legumes) has been linked to a 8% reduction in the risk of death. %.

In contrast, worsening dietary quality has been associated with a 6% -12% increase in risk.

Among volunteers who have been most sustainable on a healthy diet, the reduction in the risk of all-cause mortality has increased from 9% to 14%.


For individuals who did not feed poorly at the beginning of the study, the findings reveal that participants who improved the quality of their diet saw their mortality risk decrease in subsequent years.

"Our findings highlight the long-term health benefits of improving the quality of the overall diet," said Frank Hu, Harvard University professor and lead author of the study.

"Healthy eating habits can be adopted according to everyone's cultural and culinary preferences as well as their health status," he adds.

This study highlights the importance of maintaining healthy eating habits over the long term.

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