Longevity diet switch adds up to 10 extra years to life

What's the news: Making a diet switch from an unhealthy to a healthy diet can add up to 10 years of life.

Why should we believe it: This news is based on a new study published last week by scientists in Norway. The scientists looked at the massive UK Biobank data set, and analyzed the impact of making a switch from a typical UK diet to a longevity diet. Results:

• Men at age 40 could expect an extra 10.4 years of life by making the switch from a typical diet to a longevity diet

• Women at age 40 could expect an extra 10.8 years

• The impact at age 70 was smaller but still significant: 5.0 for men and 5.4 for women

• The biggest improvements came from upping whole grains, nuts, and fruits, and cutting down on sugar-sweetened beverages and processed meats

Why this is a big deal: Diet continues to be a confusing and contentious issue. Proponents of specific diets tend to cherrypick studies that show their preferred diet has a positive impact on some specific biomarker.

While this is an observational study, the dataset it’s based on covers over a half million people. And it gives us real-world evidence that simple, sensible dietary changes make a really big impact on the most important biomarker of all, and that's life.

So what specifically can you do now: If you're eating a "standard" diet, consider making some changes, including getting more whole foods, particularly plants, and reducing ultraprocessed foods. The above study is hardly the first to make these recommendations. But though these recommendations are simple and familiar, they could literally save your life.