Skip to main content

What You Put in Your Mouth Matters

 

diet

Numerous observation and epidemiological studies have shown solid relationships between certain healthy eating patterns and longevity.

A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine shows that improving overall diet quality by consuming less sugar-laden beverages, red and processed meats, and consuming more vegetables, fruits, fish, nuts and whole grains may significantly reduce the risk of premature death. It is the first study to show that improving diet quality over at least 12 years is associated with lower total and cardiovascular mortality, and further highlights the importance of maintaining healthy eating patterns long-term.

The study analyzed the association between changes in diet quality of nearly 74,000 adults over a 12-year period and the risk of dying over the subsequent 12 years using data from two long-term studies- the Nurses’ Health Study and the Health Professionals’ Follow-up Study.

Diet quality was assessed using three different scoring methods: the 2010 Alternate Healthy Eating Index, the Alternate Mediterranean Diet score, and the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet score. Each of these scoring methods assigns scores to various types of food or nutrients; less healthy foods or nutrients have lower scores and healthier foods or nutrients have higher ones.

These researchers found that improved diet quality over a 12-year period was associated with reduced risk of death in the subsequent 12 years, no matter which score was used. Food groups that contributed most to an improvement in diet quality were fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fish or omega-3 fatty acids.

“Our results highlight the long-term health benefits of improving diet quality with an emphasis on overall dietary patterns rather than on individual foods or nutrients. A healthy eating pattern can be adopted according to individuals’ food and cultural preferences and health conditions. There is no one-size-fits-all diet,” said Frank Hu, professor and chair of the Harvard Chan School Department of Nutrition and senior author of the study.

These results are not surprising, and continue to show that your diet does matter.

Sotos-prieto M, Bhupathiraju SN, Mattei J, et al. Association of Changes in Diet Quality with Total and Cause-Specific Mortality. N Engl J Med. 2017;377(2):143-153.



Article source: https://askthescientists.com/put-mouth-matters/?id=13550953&source=copiedlink

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

All About Hormones: How they Function to Keep You Healthy

If your   circulatory system is a superhighway, your hormones are some of the most important traffic traveling those critical thoroughfares. Likening hormones to cars shows these complex molecules as simply vehicles. And that’s exactly what they are. Hormones are constantly driving through your internal highways to transport messages and signals between your body systems and organs. For example, when you’ve eaten a meal, the hormone insulin enters the highway from the pancreas. Then it races through the bloodstream to collect glucose and deliver it to your cells for energy. Let’s broaden this driving metaphor. If hormones are various vehicles, then the glands that produce them are like car manufacturers. These manufacturers are all a part of the larger controlling body—your endocrine system. The endocrine system employs vehicle (or hormone) manufacturers throughout the body: the pancreas, thyroid, adrenal, ovaries, and testes to name a few. Let’s take a closer look at the major hor...
Post a Comment
Read more

The 8 Pillars of Holistic Health and Wellness

  Health is often understood as the absence of disease or sickness. While this definition is valid, it lacks the comprehensiveness of a broader approach. So start assessing your holistic health and wellness on a wider spectrum. This means wellness depends on more factors than simply avoiding the flu each year. Holistic health and wellness is sustained by eight pillars: physical, nutritional, emotional, social, spiritual, intellectual, financial, and environmental. The pillars will give you a sense of how to work toward your optimal wellness, but it’s by no means prescriptive. The path to wellness is not one-size-fits-all. The journey is unique and different for each individual. Your biology, personality, and environment will determine what wellness means to you. That’s why your approach should be personalized. The common thread for everyone is that wellness requires a holistic approach. So, let’s learn more about each pillar and how you can strengthen each one. Physical   Most...
Post a Comment
Read more

Travel Fit: Tips for Fitness on the Go

  You’re deep asleep when your alarm clock rings at an early hour. It’s still dark, but it’s time to get up. You triple-check that your bags are fully packed—are you missing anything?—and book it out the door to the airport. Whether you’re flying for work or play, the   stress   of an early morning flight is a constant. Seasoned travelers are ready for most things—for the noise, the turbulence, the germs in the recycled airplane air. But one thing travelers don’t often prepare for is maintaining   your fitness   on the go. The list of reasons—ahem, excuses—can run long. The good news is that traveling doesn’t have to differ from home so much. It’s possible to take your healthy habits on the road with you. With a little bit of planning and forethought, you can take your fitness goals on the road with you. This will keep your routine intact, and also help you maintain energy, so you can feel your best during your trip. Read on for tips on how to travel so you won’...
Post a Comment
Read more