Does Healthy Eating Mean Healthy Aging?
What does it take to reach age 70 and not have any chronic diseases? A team of researchers led by scientists from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health sought to answer this question by following over 100,000 Americans in their 40s, 50s and 60s for up to three decades.
The results, published March 24 in the journal Nature Medicine, found that healthy diets earlier in life were associated with a higher likelihood of healthy aging, even after accounting for other lifestyle factors, such as physical activity and smoking status.
I wanted to better understand which diets could lead to higher odds of healthy aging. How might these study findings affect people’s nutrition choices during midlife and other periods in their lives? To learn more, I spoke with CNN wellness expert Dr. Leana Wen. Wen is an emergency physician and adjunct associate professor at George Washington University. She previously served as Baltimore’s health commissioner.
Excerpted from CNN Health
