Author Interviews, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Lifestyle & Health, NEJM, Nutrition / 13.07.2017
Healthy Diet Translates Into Longer Life
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Mercedes Sotos Prieto PhD
Research Fellow
Department of Nutrition
Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Previous research have found that adherence to the 2010 Alternate Heathy Eating Index, the Mediterranean Diet pattern, and DASH pattern is associated with health benefits, but none of those studies have examined dynamic changes in diet quality over time and subsequent risk of mortality.
This is the first study to demonstrate that improvement in these three diet scores over time is associated with reduced risk of total and cardiovascular mortality. In contrast, worsening diet quality over 12-years was associated with 6%-12% increased mortality.
In addition, not only improvement in diet quality but maintaining a high adherence to any of the three dietary patterns over 12 years was significantly associated with 9%-14% lower total mortality.
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