Written by Jessica Patella, ND. Adoption of recommended dietary behaviors was associated with 20-25% lower risk of mortality.
For thousands of years, there has been an active search for the fountain of youth. Today, the boom of the anti-aging industry, with product sales expected to reach $291.9 billion per year by 2015, is proof we still are searching for the infamous fountain (1). But what if simply following basic dietary recommendations of eating more fruits, vegetables and whole grains; reducing solid fat intake and eating moderate amounts of lean protein and low-fat dairy are the answer? Recent research shows that adoption of recommended dietary behaviors is associated with lower mortality in both men and women (2).
The research included 199,874 men and 151,012 women aged 50-71 years living in the United States. From 1995-1996, each participant completed baseline questionnaires. The questionnaires included a Food Frequency Questionnaire, the Dietary Behavior Score (DBS) and self-assessed overall health status.
The Food Frequency Questionaire contains 2 24-hour dietary recalls and questions about the usual consumption of 124 foods over the past 12 months. The DBS includes 6 categories of questions: servings of vegetables per week, servings of fruit (excluding juice) per week, usual consumption of whole grain cereals and breads, usual consumption of lean mean and poultry without skin, usual consumption of low-fat dairy, and usual practice of addition of solid fat after cooking (2).
Participants with higher DBS scores were slightly older, more likely to be non-Hispanic White, had lower Body Mass Index (BMI), were college graduates, more physically active and were less likely to be current smokers (2). The higher DBS scores were also related to higher intakes of fiber, carotene (precursor to vitamin A), folate, vitamin C, potassium and calcium (p<0.0001). The lower DBS scores were correlated with higher intakes of saturated fats and alcohol (p<0.0001).
After 10.55 years, a follow-up was conducted. There were a total of 19,435 death among the men and 10,403 deaths among the women. Men and women in the highest one-fifth of DBS scores had 50% lower risk of mortality than those in the lowest one-fifth of DBS scores (95% CI, 0.49-0.54) (2). Approximately 12% of the risk of mortality was attributed to poor compliance with dietary recommendations (2).
In conclusion, adoption of recommended dietary behaviors was associated with 20-25% lower risk of mortality after 10 years in men and women (2). All of the data was self-reported and therefore reporting errors and miscalculations are possible (2).
Source: Kant, Ashima K., et al. “Patterns of recommended dietary behaviors predict subsequent risk of mortality in a large cohort of men and women in the United States.” The Journal of nutrition 139.7 (2009): 1374-1380.
© 2009 American Society for Nutrition.
Posted March 16, 2012.
References:
- Global Anti-Aging Products to Reach $291.9 billion. See the World Health website.
- Kant A, et al. Patterns of Recommended Dietary Behaviors Predict Subsequent Risk of Mortality in a Large Cohort of Men and Women in the United States. 2009. J Nutr. 139: 1374-1380.
