Healthy eating leads to a healthy life – this old saying has yet again been proved. Food is one of the most important factors for both well-being and deterioration of one’s health. A recent study also says so. It has concluded that one can lead a longer and disease-free life if they give up on unhealthy diet, excess alcohol consumption and smoking, and keep a check on weight and regularity in exercising. The study, published in journal BMJ, stated that if one eliminates these five factors, then the risks of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and other chronic diseases can be avoided.
The report in ANI says, this research is an extension of a study that was published last year. The earlier study followed more than 38,000 men for 28 years and 73,000 women for 34 years. The study found women who adopted all five healthy habits at age 50 lived 14 years longer and men who were following all five lifestyle factors at age 50 lived 12 years longer than the ones who followed none, respectively.
The new study examined the same data to see how chronic disease affected the quality of life during the study period. “We found that following a healthy lifestyle can substantially extend the years a person lives disease-free,” said senior author Dr. Frank Hu, who chairs the department of nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, adding that women, in particular, who practiced all five habits gained over 10 years of disease-free life, and men who did so gained almost eight years. When broken down by disease, the healthier women gained an average of eight years free of cancer, 10 years with no cardiovascular disease and 12 years without diabetes. In the case of men, when broken down by disease, they gained an average of six more years without cancer, almost nine more years free of heart issues and over 10 years without diabetes.
Hu while talking about eliminating these five unhealthy habits said, “It is never too late to adopt these habits. For smokers, the single most important thing that one should do is to stop smoking. For non-smokers, eating a healthy diet and being physically active are important for keeping a healthy weight.”
Who doesn’t want to add some healthier years to their life-span? If we look into the risk factors (smoking, not exercising, being overweight, drinking too much alcohol and eating an unhealthy diet), all are inter-related. If we keep a check on our diet and adopt a healthy lifestyle, then automatically we will end up eliminating unhealthy food, alcohol, smokes from our life, and if we exercise regularly, we can automatically keep our weight under control.
Now we all know what’s good for us. So wake up to a healthy and happy life.
Source: NDTV Food
