To my eyes, what one should take away from the study noted here is that adopting any form of healthier diet is beneficial over the long term. Another important item to consider is just how few people make it to age 70 without developing a major chronic medical condition. Thirdly, that the reasonable best case outcome for adjusting diet is to move the odds of avoiding chronic disease at age 70 from less than 10% to something more like 20%. Stepping back to consider the bigger picture, these are not good odds whether or not one's diet is healthy. These numbers are exactly why we need to spend less time focused on ever more detailed diet optimization and more time focused on assisting the development of potential rejuvenation therapies that address the underlying causes of aging.
As the global population ages, it is critical to identify diets that, beyond preventing noncommunicable diseases, optimally promote healthy aging. Here, using longitudinal questionnaire data from the Nurses' Health Study (1986-2016) and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study (1986-2016), we examined the association of long-term adherence to eight dietary patterns and ultraprocessed food consumption with healthy aging, as assessed according to measures of cognitive, physical and mental health, as well as living to 70 years of age free of chronic diseases.
After up to 30 years of follow-up, 9,771 (9.3%) of 105,015 participants (66% women, mean age = 53 ± 8 years) achieved healthy aging. For each dietary pattern, higher adherence was associated with greater odds of healthy aging and its domains. The odds ratios for the highest quintile versus the lowest ranged from 1.45 (healthful plant-based diet) to 1.86 (Alternative Healthy Eating Index). When the age threshold for healthy aging was shifted to 75 years, the Alternative Healthy Eating Index diet showed the strongest association with healthy aging, with an odds ratio of 2.24.
Higher intakes of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, unsaturated fats, nuts, legumes, and low-fat dairy products were linked to greater odds of healthy aging, whereas higher intakes of trans fats, sodium, sugary beverages, and red or processed meats (or both) were inversely associated. Our findings suggest that dietary patterns rich in plant-based foods, with moderate inclusion of healthy animal-based foods, may enhance overall healthy aging, guiding future dietary guidelines.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-025-03570-5
View the full article at FightAging
