A study confirms that certain dietary changes can extend one’s life expectancy. Consuming a diet rich in legumes and whole grains can add up to a decade to a person’s life. A study said if we shifted to a life of eating nuts, pulses and grains at the age of 20 then scientists have calculated we could look forward to ten additional years. In fact, a switch at the age of 60 could help gain eight years, if the research is to be believed.
Lars Fadnes, from the University of Bergen, said, “Food is fundamental for health, and globally dietary risk factors are estimated to cause 11 million deaths and 255 million disability-adjusted life years annually.” The researchers combined previous analyses of the associations between food intake and longevity and estimated the effect of moving from a typical western diet to an optimal one.
The team also made a calculator showing people how altering a western-style diet and moving even incrementally to a new one could help them. Fadnes said his own diet was probably about 85 per cent of the way to the ideal. He said, “Probably, relatively few people would optimise their diet completely. It is possible to gain substantial benefits with feasible diet changes where some unhealthy food groups are eaten occasionally or to some degree.”
Fadnes also recommended swapping out some foods, saying that “preferring burgers made from, for example, legumes over those from meat would likely be beneficial.”
