Young adults could possibly add a decade to their life expectancy by eating the right foods, and limiting the wrong ones.
Eating an ideal diet could add as much as ten years to the life expectancy of a young adult. That’s according to an extensive study by researchers at The University of Sydney, Australia.
Their modeling methodology used meta-analyses, data from the Global Burden of Disease study, and life table methodology. It showed that life expectancy gains for prolonged changes from the typical Western diet to optimized diets could translate into more than a decade for young adults. Older adults would also see benefits, by as much as a 7 percent longer life.
The say the optimal diet has substantially higher intake than a typical diet of whole grains, legumes, fish, fruits, vegetables, and included a handful of nuts, while reducing red and processed meats, sugar-sweetened beverages, and refined grains.
Based on meta-analyses and data from the Global Burden of Disease study of 2019, researchers used life table methodology to estimate how life expectancy changes with sustained changes in the types of food people eat.
Researchers have developed a tool for people to use to determine how their diet changes could alter their life expectancy. It’s called the Food 4 Healthy Life Calculator.
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Sabrina Halvorson
National Correspondent / AgNet Media, Inc.
Sabrina Halvorson is an award-winning journalist, broadcaster, and public speaker who specializes in agriculture. She primarily reports on legislative issues and hosts The AgNet News Hour and The AgNet Weekly podcast. Sabrina is a native of California’s agriculture-rich Central Valley.