Reacción a "Diet improvement at age 45 can extend life by two to three years, says study"

This is a well-executed study based on a database containing high-quality information on thousands of participants. It was already well known that following certain types of diets rich in plant-based foods, such as the Mediterranean diet, was associated with lower mortality, but the contribution of this study is to present the benefits of these diets in a positive and more understandable way for the population, i.e., in terms of years of life gained by following these diets. The main messages of the study are as follows:

• Following an optimal Mediterranean diet (eating plenty of fruits and vegetables, preferring whole grains over refined grains, and consuming mainly plant-based proteins, while minimizing the consumption of sugary drinks and other products rich in sugar and/or salt) can increase life expectancy by up to 2-3 years in people aged 45 (compared to people who follow a very poor diet).
• If it is not possible to follow an optimal diet, improving it a little is better than nothing, as this can also prolong life (see Figure 3).
• It is never too late to improve your diet, as following an optimal diet at age 80 is associated with a gain of up to two years of life for men, compared to those who have a very poor diet at that age, and up to one year for women (see Figure 3).
• The next step is to investigate how much of this gain in life expectancy occurs in good health (healthy life expectancy).