How your eating habits in the middle of life can help you live longer and healthier

Copyright © HT Digital Streams Limit all rights reserved. Alex Janin, The Wall Street Journal 4 min Read April 20, 2025, 05:28 pm Ist sticks to a balanced diet with a moderate amount of healthy animal protein, in fact better than a more vegetable diet, in terms of healthy aging. (Istockphoto) Summary A plant rich diet with fish and dairy can make the biggest difference, according to new research. If you are 70 years old, healthy and disease -free, your diet may have to resign, suggest new research. The study, which analyzed the health data of more than 100,000 people over the course of 30 years, is the first of its kind to investigate how dietary patterns not only affect the lifetime, but also how well people age. The stir: a diet that emphasizes the long -term diet, fruits, healthy fats and some animal products such as fish and dairy, was most likely to make a difference in aging of good health. Keeping a balanced diet with a moderate amount of healthy animal protein in fact did better because of a more vegetable diet, in terms of healthy aging. The researchers also found that eating more ultra -processive foods at older age is linked to worse physical and cognitive health. The study, published in Nature Medicine and led by researchers at Harvard University, the University of Copenhagen and the University of Montreal, contributes to the growing body of research on human health stresses – the number of years we live in good health – and the factors that can extend the years. Although Americans live longer, they spend less of their later years of good health. One reason is that medical progress has once transformed essential conditions into chronic. Another is the increasing occurrence of conditions such as obesity, diabetes and drug use deviations. Anne-Julie Tessier, an assistant professor at the University of Montreal, who led the study, is a priority to stay active and independent from a public health point of view, and for many of us. She added the dietary habits that are best associated with healthy aging, and it will probably work by reducing inflammation, improving metabolism and supporting bowel health. What is healthy aging? The researchers defined healthy aging as 70 in good cognitive, physical and mental health and without developing great chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes or heart disease. They found that just under 10% of the people found during the 30 -year period. To examine the connection with the diet, the authors of the study looked at three decades of questionnaires that health professionals asked in the middle of life to remember and draw what food they ate and how often. They filled it in every four years. For example, how much salt shake, they added to food each day, and did they eat fresh or canned peaches? The data comes from two well-known, long-term research projects in the health world health study of the nurses and the follow-up study of the health professionals, who started at Harvard in the 1970s and 1980s and were used to investigate a variety of topics, from the effects of oral contraceptives to cigarette dress. Researchers have given scores to how now people’s diets meet the important characteristics of eight dietary patterns. It contains different forms of the Mediterranean diet, praised by doctors and scientists for everything, from the brain reinforcement to the anti-inflammatory benefits. People who peaked at the so -called alternative healthy eating index, a plant -rich diet plus protein such as dairy and fish, had an 86% higher chance of healthy aging than those whose diets achieved the lowest for the diet. Keeping a vegetable diet with limited animal products also seems to make a difference, but less. Diet that has many trans fats, salt, sugar-containing drinks, and red or processed meat-like steak, ham and sausage connected to a worse healthy outdated results. More research needs other studies have looked at whether specific diets help people live longer. One published in 2023 found that holding similar healthy diets is linked to a lower risk of premature death. Yet robust nutritional research is strikingly difficult to do. Many studies rely on participants who remember what they ate over weeks, months or years, which can be the best and inaccurate in the best way. This makes it impossible to know how much sugar or saturated fat people actually ate, says Eric Brown, a research scientist in the National Institutes of Health’s pediatric translation research branch, who was not involved in the study. The questionnaires are also not responsible if participants eat. Some research suggests that timing, such as whether people eat sooner or later in the day, can affect health markers, including blood pressure, as well as how the body processes sugar. Other factors may also be skewed. “If you eat a lot of vegetables, it can also be a marker, and you prepare many homemade meals and that you eat fresh food,” says Inge Lindseth, a registered dietitian and nutritional researcher in Oslo who was not involved in the study. The researchers tried to account for such issues by statistically checking for factors such as participants’ body mass index, how much they practiced and their financial status. The repetition of the research in more diverse population groups will help determine if the results apply broader, says Tessier. In the meantime, she adds: It is still important to remember that diet is not a one-size-fits-all approach. “It doesn’t mean ignoring personal preferences or cultural traditions,” she says. “Balance and enjoyment are definitely the key.” Write to Alex Janin on [email protected], catch all the business news, market news, news reports and latest news updates on live currency. Download the Mint News app to get daily market updates. More Topics #Healthcare Mint Specials