Healthy diet helps elders live longer
It’s never too late. A research in the U.S published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association found that older adults who started to follow healthy diet even at later age had better chance of living longer than those who didn’t.
Eating patterns of over 2,500 Americans aged between 70 and 79 over a ten year period were studied before concluding this.
Lead author Dr Amy L Anderson and senior author Dr Nadine R. Sahyoun, both from the Department of Nutrition and Food Science at the University of Maryland, said that their findings suggest that older adults who follow current guidelines of having a diet comprising mostly vegetables, fruit, whole grains, low-fat dairy products, fish and poultry, are more likely to have a better “nutritional status”, a higher quality of life and live longer than those whose diets are high in fat and sugar.
“Our study is the first to examine the dietary patterns of a relatively large and diverse US cohort of adults aged 70 and over, and explore associations of these dietary patterns with survival,” she added, explaining that another unique feature of their research was that they also “evaluated participants’ quality of life and their nutritional status through detailed biochemical measures”.
Such studies are valuable because the leading causes of death is shifting from infectious diseases to chronic diseases (like cancer and cardiovascular disease), both of which may be affected by diet. Also, it is estimated that the number of adults aged 65 and over worldwide in 2030 will be 973 million, which is more than double the 420 million figure from 2000.
The researcher grouped the participants into six groups depending on what they were mostly consuming out of 108 food items:
- Healthy Foods – 374 participants
- High-Fat Dairy Foods – 332
- Meat, Fried Foods, and Alcohol – 693
- Breakfast Cereal – 386
- Refined Grains – 458
- Sweets and Desserts – 339
The Healthy Foods group consumed relatively greater amounts of low-fat dairy foods, fruit, whole grains, poultry, fish, and vegetables, and relatively lower amounts of meat, fried foods, sweets, high-calorie drinks, and added fat.
The High Fat Dairy Foods group consumed a relatively higher intake of ice cream, cheese, 2% milk and yogurt, whole milk and yogurt, and other similar foods, and a relatively lower intake of poultry, low-fat dairy products, rice, and pasta.
After taking into account effects due to gender, age, race, where the participant data was collected, education, exercise, smoking and total calorie intake, the researchers found that:
- The High-Fat Dairy Foods group had a 40% higher risk of mortality than the Healthy Foods group.
- The Sweets and Desserts group had a 37% higher risk of mortality than the Healthy Foods group.
- No significant differences in risk of mortality were seen between the Breakfast Cereal and the Healthy Foods groups and the Refined Grains and Health Foods groups.
Dr. Anderson said she and her colleagues concluded that “Because a substantial percentage of older adults in this study followed the Healthy Foods dietary pattern, adherence to such a diet appears a feasible and realistic recommendation for potentially improved survival and quality of life in the growing older adult population.”
Dr. Sahyoun added “if people see the direct association provided by this study with living longer and having a better quality of life, then maybe more people will recognize the importance of adopting these recommendations, even at older ages, as part of a healthy lifestyle.”
Two food-types – the High-Fat Dairy and the Sweets and Desserts, have something in common: they are both higher in saturated fats and trans fats.
