Gain a decade? Calculator tallies additional life expectancy with dietary changes
11 Feb 2022 --- Norway-based scientists have developed a tool to calculate how many more years of life expectancy (LE) healthy foods can add to certain demographics.
Up to a decade of LE could be added to consumers who begin to eat healthy earlier in life, found researchers at the University of Bergen using the Food4HealthyLife Calculator.
Starting young with nutrition
For young adults in the US, for example, the model estimates women could increase their LE by 10.7 years and men by 13.0 years if they started at age 20.
To do this, they would have to switch from a typical Western diet to an optimized diet, including more legumes, whole grains and nuts, and less red and processed meat.
For older people, the anticipated gains to life expectancy from such dietary changes would be smaller but still substantial.
Increasing legumes is more impactful than increasing vegetables in all age groups (Credit: Fadnes LT et al., 2022, PLOS Medicine).Changing from a typical diet to an optimized diet at age 60 could still increase LE by 8.0 years for women and 8.8 years for men. Meanwhile, 80-year-olds could gain 3.4 years on average, with females adding 2.1-4.7 of LE and males 2.1-4.8 of LE from such dietary changes.
Foods for longevity
The study published in PLOS Medicine found that the largest gains in years of LE would be made by eating more legumes, adding 2.2 LE years to females and 2.5 to males.
The second most impactful food category was whole grains (females +2.0 years, males +2.3 years), followed by more nuts (females +1.7 years, males +2.0 years), less red meat (females +1.6 years, males +1.9 years) and less processed meat (females +1.6 years, males +1.9 years).
“Understanding the relative health potential of different food groups could enable people to make feasible and significant health gains,” the authors write.
“The Food4HealthyLife calculator could be a useful tool for clinicians, policymakers and lay-people to understand the health impact of dietary choices.”
The model is based on existing meta-analyses and data from the Global Burden of Diseases study, enabling the instant estimation of dietary changes’ impact on LE.
“Research until now has shown health benefits associated with separate food groups or specific diet patterns but given limited information on the health impact of other diet changes. Our modeling methodology has bridged this gap,” says Lars Fadnes, professor at the University of Bergen and lead author of the study.
Food as preventative medicine
Nutrition is increasingly recognized as crucial to leading healthier lives, with the pandemic accelerating this trend.
In a report last year, ADM noted that 76% of global consumers say they will eat and drink more healthily due to COVID-19.
Meanwhile, US-based researchers are investigating how a diet’s impact can vary by individual based on their genetics, gender, tissue and age.
Edited by Missy Green
