[Supertraining] Small Lifestyle Changes Can Boost Longevity

The following information should be helpful.

Ralph Giarnella MD
Southington Ct USA

********************
Small Lifestyle Changes Can Boost Longevity
Not smoking, exercising, moderate drinking, eating
veggies could add 14 years, study says
Posted 1/8/08
TUESDAY, Jan. 8 (HealthDay News) -- People with four
healthy lifestyle behaviors -- not smoking, physical
activity, moderate alcohol consumption, and eating
five servings of fruit or vegetables a day -- live an
average of 14 years longer than people with none of
those behaviors, a new British study contends.

Researchers at the University of Cambridge and the
Medical Research Council looked at 20,000 men and
women, aged 45-79, who filled out a questionnaire
about the four health behaviors. The participants,
none of whom had known cancer or heart or circulatory
disease, filled out the questionnaire between 1993 and
1997 and were followed until 2006.

For each of the four healthy lifestyle behaviors, a
participant received one point.

After they factored in age, the researchers found that
participants with zero points were four times more
likely to have died over an average period of 11 years
than those with four points.

In addition, the study authors concluded that
participants with a score of zero had the same risk of
dying as someone 14 years older with a score of four.
This was independent of body-mass index (BMI) and
social class.

While the findings need to be confirmed in other
populations and an analysis of how these combined
health behaviors affect quality of life is needed, the
researchers said the results suggest that these four
healthy lifestyle behaviors could markedly improve the
health of middle-aged and older people.

The study is part of the European Prospective
Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC),
conducted in 10 European countries. EPIC is the
largest-ever study of diet and health.

There is strong evidence that individual lifestyle
factors such as smoking, diet and physical activity
influence health and longevity, but there has been
little research into their combined impact, according
to background information in a news release about the
study.

The study was published in the journal PLoS Medicine.

__._,_.___

_,_._,___