The participants in this American study were followed for twenty years. Five healthy behaviors can save up to ten years without illness.
According to a new American study, the adoption of five healthy behaviors, like playing sports and a non-smoking lifestyle, would add up to 10 years free of chronic diseases to your life expectancy.
A team from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, analyzed data related to 73,196 women and 38,366 men who did not suffer from cancer, cardiovascular problems or diabetes at the start of the study.
Balanced diet
The researchers studied five factors – non-smoking lifestyle, maintain a normal BMI, practice a minimum of 30 minutes of physical activity per day, moderate alcohol consumption and a balanced diet – to assign a health score ranging from 0 to 5 to each participant, the score of 5 indicating the healthiest lifestyle. The participants were followed regularly for 20 years.
The results, published in the journal The BMJ, show that after taking into account factors such as age, ethnicity and family history, life expectancy after 50 years was 24 years without cancer, cardiovascular disease and diabetes in those who did not adopt none of these behaviors.
In women who adopted them all, scientists found that the life expectancy without these diseases after 50 years was 34 years.
Heavy smokers and obesity
The results observed in men are similar. Those who did not adopt any of these healthy behaviors demonstrated a life expectancy free from chronic diseases of 24 years, compared to 31 years for men who developed four or five healthy habits.
The life expectancy of women who maintained four or five of these habits saw their healthy life expectancy increase by 10.6 years compared to those who did not take into account any of these factors. Among men, life expectancy is increased by 7.6 years compared to men who have not adopted this lifestyle.
Heavy smokers (15 or more cigarettes per day), as well as obese men and women (BMI of 30 or higher) show the lowest proportion of disease-free life expectancy after 50 years.
It works
The researchers emphasize that this is an observational study and that a cause and effect relationship cannot be clearly established. The study also has its limits. The information was collected via questionnaires, so there is a margin of error in the responses.
However, the team specifies that the participants were numerous and followed over the long term. Adopting a healthy diet and lifestyle therefore seems to contribute to increasing life expectancy without chronic diseases.
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