Eco-friendly foods may help you live longer: Study

Eating more foods that are good for the environment may help you live a longer, healthier life, according to new research. In a follow-up study over 30 years, researchers found that people who consistently ate more were 25 percent less likely to die than those who didn’t.

The research expands on earlier studies that identified foods that are beneficial to both human health and the environment, such as whole grains, fruits, non-starchy vegetables, nuts, and unsaturated oils, as well as foods that may be harmful to both, such as eggs and red and processed meats.

According to the latest research, consuming more healthful food may reduce the risk of dying from conditions including cancer, heart disease, respiratory diseases and neurological disorders. “We proposed a new dietary score that incorporates the best current scientific evidence on the effects of food on both health and the environment,” said Linh Bui, MD, PhD candidate in the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health.

cre trending stories

Also Read: Prebiotic-Rich Foods Like Artichokes, Garlic And Onions Can Keep Your Gut Healthy: Study

“The results confirmed our hypothesis that a higher Planetary Health Diet score was associated with a lower risk of mortality.” Bui will present the findings at Nutrition 2023, the flagship annual meeting of the American Society for Nutrition, held July 22-25 in Boston.

According to existing evidence, plant-based foods are associated with a lower risk of chronic diseases such as heart disease, colorectal cancer, diabetes and stroke, and have less impact on the environment in terms of factors such as water use, land use, nutrient pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.

With the new study, the researchers aim to create a simple tool that policy makers and public health practitioners can use to improve public health and develop strategies to address the climate crisis.

“As a millennial, I’ve always been concerned about reducing human impacts on the environment,” Bui said. “A sustainable dietary pattern should not only be healthy but also be in line with planetary limits for greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental parameters.”

To create their Planetary Health Diet Index (PHDI), the researchers reviewed existing research on the relationship between different food groups and health outcomes, based on the EAT-Lancet reference diet, which accounts for the environmental impacts of food production practices. They then applied the index to analyze results among more than 100,000 participants in two large cohort studies conducted in the United States. The data set included more than 47,000 deaths during a follow-up period of more than three decades from 1986-2018.

Overall, they found that people in the highest quintile (the top fifth of participants) for PHDI had a 25 percent lower risk of death from any cause than those in the lowest quintile. Bui cautioned that the PHDI does not necessarily reflect all foods and their associations with all major diseases in all countries.

People with food access who differ due to specific health conditions, religious restrictions, or socioeconomic status or food availability may face challenges in following more sustainable dietary patterns. Further research may help clarify and address such barriers.

“We hope researchers can adapt this index to specific food cultures and validate how it is linked to chronic diseases and environmental impacts such as carbon footprint, water footprint and land use in other populations,” Bui said.