You could go as far as to say that longevity is the ultimate motivation for all nutrition or lifestyle changes, which is why a new Harvard study linking four specific ways of eating to a longer life is making waves. The results, published this month in JAMA Internal Medicine1, showed that participants who scored higher on adherence to one of the four healthy eating patterns were 20% less likely to die during the study period. They also experienced considerably lower rates of cardiovascular disease, cancer, and respiratory disease than the participants with lower adherence scores. The results also showed that participants who made their diet just 25% healthier could reduce their risk of dying from cardiovascular disease by 6% to 13%, cancer by 7% to 18%, neurodegenerative disease by 7%, and respiratory disease by as much as 35% to 46%, which is pretty striking. The research did have some limitations. For example, it relied on the participants’ ability to self-report their dietary habits, which opens up some potential for inaccuracy. It also shows a link between dietary patterns and a longer life, or correlation; it doesn’t prove that diet directly leads to a longer life, which is known as causation. The second thing this study taught us is equally if not even more important: There’s more than one way to eat healthfully. As a co-author on the study Frank Hu, M.D., Ph.D., explained to CNN, “…this is good news. It means that we have a lot of flexibility in terms of creating our own healthy dietary patterns that can be tailored to individual food preferences, health conditions, and cultures.” It’s easy to get wrapped up in the never-ending “eat this, not that” cycle. But this study showed us that as long as we are following a few key principles—like plenty of whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and legumes—we can allow for flexibility and change beyond that. “For example, if you are eating a healthy Mediterranean, and after a few months you want to try something different, you can switch…” Hu continued. RELATED: 9 Best Probiotics For Every Possible Gut Health Goal, From A Nutrition PhD
