This “Healthy” Diet May Actually Age You Faster, Says New Research
With the ever-rising costs of groceries and the stresses of everyday life, it can be a challenge to ensure we do right by our bodies. Still, we drag our feet to the gym and eat those veggies all in an effort to live a long, thriving life. But whether you’re a part-time partaker or one of the 4% of Americans who closely follow this diet usually viewed as healthy, you may want to rethink what you’re chowing down on.
The medical journal npj Aging published a study earlier this month that suggests a vegetarian diet may not be the healthiest choice for people over 70 years old—unless they’re keeping close tabs on their overall nutritional intake.
Researchers from Fudan University in Shanghai, China, reviewed the diets of 2,888 older adults to see what effect their eating habits had on their overall health. Specifically, the research team wanted to see how the type of vegetarian diet—whether it be vegan, ovo-vegetarian (includes eggs), or pesco-vegetarian (includes fish and seafood)—impacted cognitive, physical, and mental health.
Using data provided by the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey, the participants included in the research had an average age of about 72 years. With an average follow-up period of about six years for the participants, the study found that only 572 of the 2,888 participants involved “met the criteria for healthy aging” after six years, meaning they had no major chronic diseases (such as diabetes or high blood pressure) and no impairment to their physical or cognitive function.
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