The best diets to help you live longer – 4 best diets to reduce the risk of death, compiled by experts
The path to a long life is dangerous and offers no guarantees. However, a healthy diet is one of the most powerful disease defenses you can add to your arsenal. This makes diets filled with colorful fruits and vegetables an essential ingredient for longevity, with four diets being particularly effective.
With the volume of research that comes out every year, it’s hard to navigate the world of diets.
From blue zone diets to paleo diets, a variety of diets all promise the same thing – improving your health. But which one to choose?
Fortunately, researchers at Harvard University have ranked the top four diets based on how effective they are in reducing the risk of early death.
Although the diets vary slightly, they all emphasize that the key is to eat more whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and legumes.
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Healthy eating index
The Healthy Eating Index, developed by the US government as the official national nutritional standard, can reduce the risk of dying from any cause by 19 percent.
This diet encourages plant-based eating and discourages red and processed meats, added sugar, unhealthy fats, and alcohol.
The food protocol is based on a score from 0 to 100, focusing on how much fruit, vegetables, whole grains, dairy, and seafood a person gets for every 1,000 calories they eat.
Eating 0.8 cups of fruit, 0.4 cups of whole fruits, 1.1 cups of vegetables, and 0.2 cups of greens and beans for every 1,000 calories eaten will give someone a perfect score.
Alternative healthy eating index
An improved version of the previous diet, the Alternative Healthy Eating Index is a regime developed by Harvard.
This diet calls for five servings of vegetables a day, four servings of fruit, five to six servings of whole grains, at least one serving of protein from nuts or tofu, and a regular serving of fish.
This diet gives a score from zero to 110, with the highest scores being able to reduce the risk of death by 20 percent.
mediterranean diet
As the name suggests, the Mediterranean diet is typical of the traditional healthy lifestyle of people living around the Mediterranean.
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This diet consists of vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts, beans, grains, grains and fish, the NHS explains.
The Mediterranean regimen is widely known for its various benefits, including the prevention of heart disease and dementia.
In addition, the results showed that people who followed this type of diet had an 18 percent reduced risk of mortality.
vegan diet
A vegan diet is becoming increasingly popular, excluding all animal products and emphasizing plants.
In a study, following this diet protocol was found to reduce the risk of death by 14 percent.
These latest results were based on a survey of over 100,000 men and women who were followed for 36 years.
Participants were asked to complete nutritional questionnaires every two to four years that detailed their eating habits.
The researchers said that diets remain “the cornerstone for maintaining optimal health.”
Dr. Frank Hu, study correspondent and nutritionist at Harvard, said: “[These dietary standards] are designed to provide science-based nutritional advice that promotes good health and reduces major chronic diseases.”
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