Living well means eating well
By American Society for Nutrition
Natalya Lobanova |
The
research, based on data from over 100,000 people spanning 30 years, revealed
that people who followed a healthy diet from their 40s onward were 43-84% more
likely to be well-functioning physically and mentally at age 70 compared with
those who did not.
“People
who adhered to healthy dietary patterns in midlife, especially those rich in
fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and healthy fats, were significantly more
likely to achieve healthy aging,” said Anne-Julie Tessier, PhD, a postdoctoral
fellow at Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health. “This suggests that what you
eat in midlife can play a big role in how well you age.”
Tessier presented the findings at NUTRITION 2024, the flagship annual meeting of the American Society for Nutrition held June 29–July 2 in Chicago.
Specific
Dietary Impacts
In
terms of particular foods, the researchers found that higher intakes of fruits,
vegetables, whole grains, unsaturated fats, nuts, legumes, and low-fat dairy
were associated with greater odds of healthy aging, while higher intakes of
trans fat, sodium, total meats, red and processed meats were associated with a
lower odds of healthy aging.
While
many previous studies have shown that a healthy diet can help to ward off
chronic diseases, the new research is unique in its focus on healthy aging —
defined not just as the absence of disease but the ability to live
independently and enjoy a good quality of life as we grow older.
“Traditionally,
research and derived dietary guidelines have focused on preventing chronic
diseases like heart disease,” said Tessier. “Our study provides evidence for
dietary recommendations to consider not only disease prevention but also
promoting overall healthy aging as a long-term goal.”
Researchers
analyzed data from over 106,000 people going back to 1986. Participants were at
least 39 years old and free of chronic diseases at the start of the study and
provided information about their diet via questionnaires every four years. As
of 2016, nearly half of the study participants had died and only 9.2% survived
to age 70 or older while maintaining freedom from chronic diseases and good
physical, cognitive, and mental health.
Dietary
Patterns and Healthy Aging
The
researchers compared rates of healthy aging among people in the highest versus
lowest quintiles for adherence to each of eight healthy dietary patterns that
have been defined by previous scientific studies. The strongest correlation was
seen with the alternative healthy eating index, a pattern that reflects close
adherence to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Participants in the top
quintile for this dietary pattern were 84% more likely to achieve healthy aging
than those in the bottom quintile.
Strong
correlations were also found for the empirical dietary index for
hyperinsulinemia diet (associated with a 78% greater likelihood of healthy
aging), planetary health diet (68%), alternative Mediterranean diet (67%),
dietary approaches to stop hypertension (DASH) diet (66%), the
Mediterranean-DASH intervention for neurodegenerative delay (MIND) diet (59%)
and empirical dietary inflammatory pattern (58%). A somewhat more modest
association was found for the healthful plant-based diet (43%).
“A
finding that stood out was the association between the planetary health diet
and healthy aging,” said Tessier. “This diet is based on the EAT Lancet
Commission’s report which emphasizes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, plant
proteins, and healthy fats from sustainable sources. The fact that it emerged
as one of the leading dietary patterns associated with healthy aging is
particularly interesting because it supports that we can eat a diet that may
benefit both our health and the planet.”
The
ties between diet and healthy aging remained strong even when the researchers
accounted for physical activity and other factors that are known to impact
health. Tessier noted that each of the healthy dietary patterns was linked with
healthy aging as a whole, as well as with the individual components of healthy
aging, including physical health, cognitive functioning, and mental health.
Given
the study’s focus on dietary patterns in middle age, Tessier said that future
research could help to elucidate the potential impacts of switching to a
healthier dietary pattern later in life.
Reference: “Optimal
Dietary Patterns for Healthy Aging: Two Large US Prospective Cohort Studies” by
Anne-Julie Tessier, Fenglei Wang, Andres V. Ardisson Korat, Heather A.
Eliassen, Jorge E. Chavarro, Francine Grodstein, Jun Li, Liming Liang, Walter
C. Willett, Qi Sun, Meir J. Stampfer, Frank B. Hu and Marta Guasch-Ferre, 2
July 2024, NUTRITION 2024.