To Be Healthy in Your 70s, Eat Well in Your 40s

New research presented at the American Society for Nutrition's NUTRITION 2024 meeting highlights the long-term effects the foods we eat have on our future physical and mental well-being. The findings, based on a 30-year study of over 100,000 Americans started in 1986, found that the people with healthy diet in their 40s were more likely to age better:

• The results: Participants who maintained a healthy diet by their 40s were between 43% to 84% more likely to experience a boost in physical and mental functioning at age 70, making them more likely to live independently and free from chronic diseases, per Medical Daily.
• What's considered healthy? Foods the researchers slotted in the healthy group are the usual suspects—fruits, veggies, whole grains, unsaturated fats, nuts, legumes, and low-fat dairy were linked to healthy aging. Higher consumption of trans fat, sodium, meats, and processed meats showed the opposite.
• What's new: While we've long heard that the foods on the good list are associated with lower risks of chronic disease, the long-term study showed that the diet we adopt midlife also affects how we age. "Our study provides evidence for dietary recommendations to consider not only disease prevention but also promoting overall healthy aging as a long-term goal," says lead author Dr. Anne-Julie Tessier, who presented the findings at the conference.
• Other lifestyle factors: Per NBC News, the study took factors like smoking, physical activity, and socio-economic status into account, but diet remained highly influential. "We were surprised by the strength of the association between healthy eating patterns in midlife and a healthy later life, even after considering several other factors, like physical activity, that are also known to impact health," Tessier says.
• Top tier: People who ate according to Harvard's Alternative Healthy Eating Index, a variation from the federally recommended plan, fared best, and were 84% more likely to age well. Other diets, like the hyperinsulinemia and Mediterranean diets, scored high as well.

(A Harvard aging expert faces severe blowback.)