I began last week by writing about diet and lifestyle and the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Today I wanted to discuss a research piece(1) with a fabulous title: “Healthy Living Is The Best Revenge”.
The study took place in Germany, the authors wanted to look at the risks of developing major chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease (heart disease and stroke), type II diabetes and cancer. Data from 23,153 participants aged between 35 and 65 years old was used. Four healthy lifestyle factors were looked at: never having smoked, having a body mass index (BMI) of less than 30, performing at least three and a half hours of physical activity a week and adhering to a healthy diet. A healthy diet was considered one with high intake of fruits, vegetables, and whole-grains and low meat consumption.
BMI (Body Mass Index) is a measure often used for healthy weight, it is worked out as weight divided by height squared. To check your own BMI you may find it useful to visit the Food Standards Agency website where an online BMI calculator can be found. (generally a BMI of 19-25 is viewed as a healthy weight).
The 4 factors were scored (healthy, 1 point; unhealthy, 0 points) to form an index that
ranged from 0 to 4. The participants were followed for an average of 7.8 years. 3.7% of participants developed diabetes, 0.9% had a heart attack (myocardial infarction), 0.8% suffered a stroke and 3.8% developed cancer. Fewer than 4% of participants had a 0 healthy factor score, most had 1 to 3 healthy factors, and approximately 9% had 4 factors.
The risk for developing a chronic disease decreased progressively as the number of healthy factors increased. Participants with all 4 factors at the start of the study had a 78% lower risk of developing any of the chronic diseases compared to participants with no healthy factors (a score of 0). The four factors were associated with a 93% reduced risk of diabetes, and 81% reduced risk of heart attack, 50% reduced risk of stroke and a 36% reduced risk of cancer. The largest reduction in risk was associated with having a BMI less than 30, followed by never smoking, then taking at least 3.5 hours of physical activity a week and then adhering to good dietary principles. The authors conclude that “Adhering to 4 simple healthy lifestyle factors can have a strong impact on the prevention of chronic diseases” (1)
In a press release (2) the authors say “Our results reinforce current public health recommendations to avoid smoking, to maintain a healthy weight, to engage in physical activity appropriately and to eat adequate amounts of fruits and vegetables and foods containing whole grains and to partake of red meat prudently,” “Because the roots of these factors often originate during the formative stages of life, it is especially important to start early in teaching the important lessons concerning healthy living.”
It is important to note that is was an observational study which shows that lifestyle factors may be associated with a reduced risk of chronic diseases, it does not however prove cause and effect. These kinds of studies are important indicators and we can learn a lot from them. Evidence is continually mounting for the importance of living a healthy lifestyle – in the end living healthily is about increasing our likelihood of living a long, active and HEALTHY life.
As I wrote last week if you feel your diet consistently falls short of vegetables and fruits you may wish to consider taking a food-state multi-vitamin and mineral supplement which tends to provide bioflavonoids in addition to the nutrients and is easy for the body to absorb. For those of you who do not eat oil fish regularly (at least twice per week) you may want to consider taking a daily fish oil supplement in order to provide omega 3 fatty acids to the body (a supplement to provide around 250-350mg of EPA and 250-350mg DHA), for vegetarians and vegans flaxseed oil can provide the shorter chain omega 3 fatty acid, alpha linolenic acid, (a supplement providing 1000mg alpha-linolenic acid daily can be considered). Vegetarian EPA and DHA supplements produced from algae are also becoming increasingly available.
Getting out for a walk every day, even for 15-30minutes is a good way of adding physical activity into life.
(1) Earl Ford ES et al. 2009. Healthy Living Is the Best Revenge: Findings From the European Prospective Investigation Into Cancer and Nutrition-Potsdam Study. Arch Intern Med. 169 (15): 1355-1362
Written by Ani Kowal
(2)Press release. JAMA and Archives Journals (2009, August 10). Healthy Lifestyle Habits May Be Associated With Reduced Risk Of Chronic Disease. ScienceDaily. Retrieved August 12, 2009, from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/08/090810161906.htm
Written by Ani Kowal
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