Healthy eating
Study: These foods can extend your life
Anyone who has not yet integrated legumes into their daily diet should change that.
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March 7th is Healthy Eating Day, but a healthy diet can not only promote health, but also prolong life. According to a study, a 20-year-old person can gain more than ten years of life by making a drastic change in diet.
If you want to live longer, you have a big adjusting screw: your own diet. Meat should be eliminated from the menu, and more legumes and whole grains should end up on the plate – according to the recommendation from a study by a team from the University of Bergen in Norway, which appeared in “Plos Medicine”. In a study, the researchers Data from the Global Burden of Disease Study used. It has been recording diseases, deaths and risk factors worldwide for more than 30 years. The researchers from Norway have calculated how a change in diet would statistically affect one’s own life expectancy.
The researchers assumed a typical Western diet for their calculations – it corresponds to the average consumption in the USA and Europe. Among other things, it contains too much meat, processed cereals and sweetened drinks compared to the diet calculated as optimal. Europeans, on the other hand, neglect whole grain products and legumes too much.
Young people can live more than ten years longer – through optimal nutrition
A central finding of the study: Those who previously eat a typical Western diet can live significantly longer with optimal nutrition – young people in particular benefit from a change in diet. 20-year-olds can gain more than ten years, 60-year-olds around eight years and 80-year-olds still 3 years if they switch to an optimal diet.
However, a look at the figures reveals that most people in Germany are still far from optimal nutrition: Germans eat almost 60 kilograms of meat per capita per year, but only 3.5 kilograms of legumes, according to the 14th nutrition report German Society for Nutrition. According to the researchers, red meat such as pork and beef or processed products such as sausage and ham in particular have a negative effect. Just 100 or 50 grams a day shortens life by two years – if you compare it to not eating at all. Other research has shown that eating too much meat can have health implications, leading to conditions such as diabetes, Alzheimer’s, heart disease and cancer. Too much processed grain, egg, poultry, and sugary drinks also have negative consequences.
Legumes are real life extenders
Legumes, on the other hand, are real life extenders. These can be chickpeas, beans or peas, for example. According to the calculations, young women and men who increase their daily ration from zero to 200 grams gain an average of more than two years in life. According to the researchers, whole grain products and nuts should also be part of an optimal diet. Fish, fruit and vegetables also have a positive effect, but this is less pronounced because these foods are on the menu for most Europeans – in contrast to legumes.
The researchers explain their findings with the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties that fruit, vegetables and legumes have. They can counteract cell damage, i.e. age-related diseases such as diabetes, cancer or cardiovascular diseases. In their study, the researchers used average values for their calculations. Possible influences such as previous illnesses or calorie intake were not controlled in the calculations. According to the scientists, anyone who wants to change their diet must always adapt it to their individual requirements. For example, allergies to certain types of fruit or nuts make it impossible to integrate them into the diet and consume the optimal amount.
If you want to see what diet you can live with how many years longer – statistically speaking – you can do so in one online calculator of researchers do. In a search mask you have to select age, gender and your own continent. At the bottom of the page, foods are listed and the amount consumed. On the left the typical western diet. By clicking on “Optimal”, users can see how many years they would gain by switching (the calculator is in English).
Swell: Plos Medicine, Spektrum.de, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, British Medical Journal, 14th Nutrition Report of the DGE