Over 50, every bite you eat matters: Poor-quality diet linked to 57% higher risk of all-cause mortality

In addition to whether food tastes good, the evaluation criteria also include whether it is of high quality and whether it is nutritionally complete. As we age, we should pay more attention to the quality of our diet, because it is related to our health, and eating poorly can even affect our lives.

Recently, a cohort study of more than 40,000 people published in the journal Diabetes Care found that for people over 50 years old, poor quality eating habits are associated with a 57% increased risk of all-cause mortality; especially for patients who already have type 2 diabetes, this figure is as high as 87%!

The quality of diet can be assessed by the LLDS score (Lifelines Diet Score). In simple terms, the score ranks and scores nine foods that have been shown to have a positive effect on health (including vegetables, fruits, whole grains, beans and nuts, fish, oils and soft margarines, unsweetened dairy products, coffee and tea), as well as three foods that have a negative effect on health (red meat and processed meat, butter and hard margarine, sugar-sweetened beverages) according to their intake. Healthy foods are scored high, unhealthy foods are scored low, and the score represents the quality of the diet.

The results of a long-term follow-up survey showed that the risk of death was 57% higher in the group with the lowest diet quality score (T1) compared with the group with the highest diet quality (T3).

Compared with the high-quality diet group, among people without cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, the risk of death in the low-quality diet group increased by 63%; the risk of death in patients with type 2 diabetes increased by 87%.

In general, a healthy diet has a positive effect on the risk of all-cause mortality in people over 50 years old. Especially for patients with type 2 diabetes, diet quality is a potentially modifiable risk factor, and early lifestyle intervention can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and death in patients with type 2 diabetes.

References:

Vinke PC, Navis G, Kromhout D, Corpeleijn E. Associations of Diet Quality and All-Cause Mortality Across Levels of Cardiometabolic Health and Disease: A 7.6-Year Prospective Analysis From the Dutch Lifelines Cohort. Diabetes Care. 2021;44(5):1228-1235. doi:10.2337/dc20-2709Collapse