The five healthy diets that could add extra years to your life

Eat right. Live longer.

By Paul Arnold, Medical Xpress

Edited by Lisa Lock, reviewed by Robert Egan

The old saying "you are what you eat" suggests that our food choices determine our health and longevity. Now, a study published in the journal Science Advances has put some specifics on it by estimating how many extra years can be gained through a healthy diet.

To crunch the numbers, Yanling Lv at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in China, along with her colleagues, analyzed data from more than 100,000 UK Biobank participants. This is a large-scale database containing in-depth genetic and health information from half a million volunteers. They tracked the study's subjects for just over 10 years by giving them regular surveys asking what they had consumed during the previous 24 hours.

Five best diets

The team gave each participant a score based on how closely their meals matched five validated healthy diets: a Mediterranean diet (rich in healthy fats, fish, and vegetables), the Diabetes Risk Reduction Diet (high-fiber and low-sugar foods), the DASH (dietary approaches to stop hypertension) Diet, a plant-based diet, and the AHEI (Alternative Healthy Eating Index). Additionally, the researchers scored participants' DNA for 19 genetic variants associated with longevity.

During the study period, 4,314 of the participants died. By looking at who died and what they ate, and comparing that to their genetic risk, they were able to estimate how many extra years of life a person could expect to gain following a healthier diet.

How many extra years?

Their results are based on how much longer a 45-year-old could expect to live by following one of the healthy diets compared to those with the least healthy eating habits. Men following the Diabetes Risk Reduction Diet gained 3 years, while women gained 1.7 years. Those figures were 2.2 and 2.3 years, respectively, for followers of a Mediterranean diet.

For the AHEI (Alternative Healthy Eating Index), men were estimated to gain 4.3 years and women 3.2 years. Those following a plant-based diet saw estimated gains of 2.1 years for men and 1.9 years for women. And for the DASH diet, the estimated gains were 1.9 years for men and 1.8 years for women.

"Our findings underscore the advantages of healthy dietary patterns in prolonging life expectancy, regardless of longevity genes," commented the research team in their paper.

The study also found that foods with the strongest association with longevity were whole grains, fruits, and vegetables.

Publication details

Yanling Lv et al, Healthy dietary patterns, longevity genes, and life expectancy: A prospective cohort study, Science Advances (2026). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.ads7559

Journal information: Science Advances