These Diet Changes May Add Years to Your Life, Study Finds

Mallory Arnold
·2 min read
3

This article originally appeared on Oxygen

A recent study published in PLOS Medicine estimates that you could add more than a decade to your life expectancy by making simple changes to the typical Western diet, which is often laden with pre-packaged foods, refined grains, red and processed meats, fried foods and tons of sugar.

The study pulled data from several other recent meta-analyses, each of which gather data from various studies, to summarize the effects that different food types may have on life expectancy. The overall list included fruits, vegetables, whole grains, refined grains, nuts, legumes, fish, eggs, milk/dairy, red and processed meats and sugar-sweetened beverages.

Life expectancy changes for two different approaches were estimated based on the data: an optimal approach and a feasible approach. The optimal approach, as you may have guessed, would theoretically add the most time to a person’s lifespan.

Researchers found that key changes when it comes to hitting optimal amounts include incorporating more legumes, whole grains and nuts into your diet, as well as eating less red and processed meat, according to the study. Adding more fruits, vegetables and fish also had a positive impact, but the typical Western diet is closer to ideal amounts of these foods, so making the aforementioned changes could be more effective.

Making and maintaining the change to an optimized diet as a young adult, say 20 years old, is estimated to add up to nearly 11 years later in life for women. However, older adults can reap similar benefits if they make and sustain these changes, with life expectancy potentially increasing up to 8 years if changed start at 60 and 3.4 years for women in their 80s. Switching to the feasible approach could add up to 6.2 years for women who start in their 20s.

Here’s the full breakdown of the optimal and feasible approaches:

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