Life expectancy can increase by up to 10 years following sustained shifts towards healthier diets in the United Kingdom

Abstract

Adherence to healthy dietary patterns can prevent the development of non-communicable diseases and affect life expectancy. Here, using a prospective population-based cohort data from the UK Biobank, we show that sustained dietary change from unhealthy dietary patterns to the Eatwell Guide dietary recommendations is associated with 8.9 and 8.6 years gain in life expectancy for 40-year-old males and females, respectively. In the same population, sustained dietary change from unhealthy to longevity-associated dietary patterns is associated with 10.8 and 10.4 years gain in life expectancy in males and females, respectively. The largest gains are obtained from consuming more whole grains, nuts and fruits and less sugar-sweetened beverages and processed meats. Understanding the contribution of sustained dietary changes to life expectancy can provide guidance for the development of health policies.

Fig. 1. Hazard ratio for all-cause mortality per food group for each quintile (Q1–Q5) among UK Biobank participants.

Data are presented as hazard ratios and their 95% confidence intervals. The reference groups were the lowest quintile of intake for each food group. The analyses were adjusted for age, sex, area-based socio-demographic deprivation, smoking, alcohol consumption and physical activity level. The unhealthy categories are shown in red, the longevity associated are shown in green and dark green, and the Eatwell recommendations are shown in blue. The dark green category had large uncertainties; thus, the robust version of the healthiest dietary patterns is in green (not dark green).

Fig. 2. Expected life years gained from dietary changes.

Expected life years gained after changing from unhealthy median dietary patterns (red), changing from median dietary patterns to the Eatwell Guide (blue) and changing from the Eatwell Guide to longevity-associated dietary patterns (green) for 40-year-old female and male adults (F40 and M40, respectively) and 70-year-old female and male adults (F70 and M70, respectively) from the United Kingdom. Both core-adjusted models (adjusted for age, sex, socio-demographic area, smoking, alcohol consumption and activity level) and mediation models (adjusted for energy and body mass index (BMI plus E)) are presented.