These Five Diets Are Linked to a Lower Death Risk

 None of these have any specificity at all, SO BASICALLY USELESS! With no specifics your competent? doctor will gladly blame you for dying!

These Five Diets Are Linked to a Lower Death Risk

Key Takeaways

• Adherence to one of five healthy diets was tied to lower mortality risk and added up to 3 years to lifespan.
• Associations remained robust regardless of genetic predisposition for longevity.
• Diet focused on reducing diabetes risk showed the strongest link with lower death risk.

Following one of five diets was tied to a lower risk of death and a longer life expectancy, with greater adherence adding more years to a person's life, a longitudinal analysis of U.K. Biobank data showed.

Across five diet types, people who fell into the highest quintiles of dietary scores -- indicating the greatest adherence to the diets -- had an 18% to 24% reduced risk of all-cause mortality compared with those in the lowest quintiles:

• Diabetes Risk Reduction Diet (DRRD): HR 0.76, 95% CI 0.69-0.84
• Alternate Mediterranean Diet (AMED): HR 0.80, 95% CI 0.72-0.88
• Alternate Healthy Eating Index-2010 (AHEI): HR 0.80, 95% CI 0.73-0.89
• Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH): HR 0.81, 95% CI 0.73-0.90
• Healthful Plant-Based Diet Index (hPDI): HR 0.82, 95% CI 0.74-0.92

Diet adherence also tended to be associated with lower risks of cause-specific mortalities, including cardiovascular, neurodegenerative, and respiratory diseases, as well as cancer, Liangkai Chen, PhD, of Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, China, and colleagues reported in Science Advances.

For a 45-year-old, the highest adherence to one of these diets added 1.5 to 2.3 life years for women, and 1.9 to 3.0 life years for men. AMED added the most years for women, while DRRD led to the most life years gained for men.

"Our results underscore the significance of adhering to healthy dietary patterns ... offering individuals the flexibility to adapt these dietary patterns according to their preferences and traditions," the researchers noted.

Of the five diets, DRRD showed the strongest association with reduced mortality. Chen's group suggested two possible reasons for this.

"Statistically, this result can be partly explained by the direct inclusion of dietary fiber intake and glycemic index in the DRRD scoring, as dietary fiber intake showed the strongest association with all-cause mortality and dietary glycemic index was also significantly associated with all deaths," they explained. "Another possible explanation is that a diet particularly effective in improving insulin sensitivity may have greater potential to prevent chronic conditions and premature death, as insulin sensitivity plays a crucial role in the development and progression of chronic disease."

When polygenic risk scores (PRS) were factored in, associations with reduced mortality remained robust regardless of genetic predisposition for longevity. Men with high genetic longevity and the highest dietary scores gained 1.0 to 3.2 life years; women gained 2.4 to 5.5 life years.

Of note, the DRRD benefits were more pronounced in individuals with a shorter predicted lifespan.

"For DRRD, the association was significantly stronger in individuals with low longevity PRS (indicating a shorter life span), as several SNPs [single-nucleotide polymorphisms] are involved in insulin regulation, BMI, and lipid metabolism -- factors closely linked to diabetes development," the researchers noted.

The study followed 103,649 participants enrolled in the U.K. Biobank from 2006 to 2010 for a median of 10.6 years. Average baseline age was 58.3 years and 56.4% were female. A total of 4,314 deaths occurred during the follow-up period.

Participants had no history of cardiovascular diseases or cancer at baseline and had at least two dietary assessments.

Dietary assessments were conducted through an online 24-hour dietary questionnaire. Food intake was compared against components of the five diets and scored for adherence. Those with higher dietary scores were typically older, better educated, less socioeconomically deprived, less likely to smoke, more physically active, consumed less alcohol, and had lower body mass indexes.

Associations with mortality weren't significantly modified by age, sex, obesity, smoking status, energy intake, and physical activity, but tended to be stronger in more socioeconomically deprived participants. The link between the DASH diet and all-cause mortality was stronger in older adults.

Dietary data were only collected at baseline and didn't include changes in diet quality over time, Chen's group acknowledged. The study population was limited to only those of European descent.