We all want to age with grace, but a new study has found that fewer than one in 10 people were able to live free of disease and maintain good physical, cognitive and mental health to age 70 and beyond. The study suggests that sticking to a healthy diet in midlife could increase your chance of achieving healthy aging. 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, Ph.D., 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. 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.
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