Anti-Aging Lifestyle Promotes Longevity

Living an anti-aging lifestyle is associated with reductions in the risks of major chronic illness, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer.  Such a low-risk lifestyle, with an emphasis on healthy eating and being active, beneficially impacts the risks of death, as well.  Earl Ford, from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (US CDC; Georgia, USA), and colleagues assessed data collected on 16,958 subjects, ages 17 and up, enrolled in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) III Mortality Study from 1988 to 2006. People who practiced four low-risk behaviors — not smoking, eating healthy, getting enough exercise, and drinking alcohol moderately — were 63% less likely to die within the 18-year study period than those who kept none of those practices.  The researchers also found that the rate of advancement periods — a representation of the equivalent risk from aging a certain number of years — for those who practiced high-risk behaviors (rather than low-risk ones) compared with those who practiced none was equivalent to the risk of:  11.1 years for all-cause death; 14.4 years for malignant neoplasms; 9.9 years for major cardiovascular disease; and 10.6 years for other causes.  The team concludes that: “Low-risk lifestyle factors exert a powerful and beneficial effect on mortality.”