This Diet Could Help You Reach 70 in Good Health

With so many diets out there, it can be confusing and overwhelming to know which is best—or which is best for you. The Mediterranean diet consistently ranks No. 1 year after year—and for good reason. It’s linked with multiple health benefits, including a healthier heart, brain and eyes. 

But then there are other high-ranking eating patterns, too, with similar benefits—like the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) and a fusion of the Mediterranean and DASH diets, known as the MIND diet (Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay), which has been shown to promote brain and cognitive health. And then there’s just good old-fashioned healthy eating that includes a balanced diet, the kind of eating that Harvard researchers quantify with their Alternative Healthy Eating Index (AHEI).

Researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health recently teamed up with researchers from the University of Copenhagen and the University of Montreal to assess eight healthy dietary patterns—including the ones already mentioned—and how they relate to healthy aging. In this case, healthy aging includes living independently and having a good quality of life at least into your 70s. They published their findings in Nature Medicine. Here’s what they found.

How Was This Study Conducted?

Researchers drew their data from two long-term studies, the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS) and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study (HPFS). In all, data from 105,015 participants was included in the study at hand, with about two-thirds of those participants being women. All participants had an average age of 53. There was a total of 30 years of follow-up between the two studies.

Demographic information was collected, including age, BMI, physical activity, smoking status, family history, socioeconomic status and medical history. Researchers also examined food frequency questionnaires. 

This study aimed to examine the association between long-term adherence to eight healthy dietary patterns and healthy aging. The eating patterns that were assessed were:

• Alternative Healthy Eating Index (AHEI)
• Alternative Mediterranean Index (aMED)
• Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH)
• Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay (MIND)
• Healthful plant-based diet (hPDI)
• Planetary Health Diet Index (PHDI)
• Empirically Inflammatory Dietary Pattern (EDIP)
• Empirical Dietary Index for Hyperinsulinemia (EDIH)

Researchers also examined the associations of individual foods and nutrients that contribute to these eating patterns, as well as participants’ ultra-processed food consumption.

What Did This Study Find?

Of the total study population, 9,771—or 9.3%—aged healthfully. Higher adherence to any of the healthy eating patterns was associated with greater odds of healthy aging up to age 70, including in individual domains, like cognitive, physical and mental health. 

But one of the eating patterns showed the strongest associations. People in the highest quintile of the AHEI score showed an 86% greater likelihood of healthy aging at 70 years old, and they were more than twice as likely to be healthy at 75 years old when compared to the lowest quintile of the AHEI score.

The AHEI highlights the intake of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, legumes and healthy fats, including omega-3s and polyunsaturated fats (like corn oil, soybean oil and sunflower oil). It’s also lower in red meat, processed meat, sugar-sweetened beverages, sodium and refined grains. This type of eating pattern is balanced and varied, so it’s one that many people may find easier to follow than other, more restrictive options.

Perhaps not surprisingly, a higher intake of ultra-processed foods, especially processed meat and sugar-sweetened or artificially-sweetened beverages, was associated with lower odds of healthy aging.

How Does This Apply to Real Life?

The researchers note their results suggest that a wide variety of eating patterns can result in healthy aging, showing that healthy eating is not a one-size-fits-all kind of thing—it can be flexible and tailored to individual preferences and lifestyles.

“Our findings suggest that dietary patterns rich in plant-based foods, with moderate inclusion of healthy animal-based foods, may promote overall healthy aging and help shape future dietary guidelines,” says Marta Guasch-Ferré, Ph.D., one of the study authors and associate professor in the Department of Public Health at the University of Copenhagen and adjunct associate professor of nutrition at Harvard Chan School, in a press release. 

Changing eating habits can seem overwhelming at times, but if you start small, it makes it more doable. Knowing that the AHEI focuses on fruits, veggies, nuts, legumes and healthy fats, choose one of these to start adding to your meals and snacks. By focusing on foods you can add or swap, instead of foods that need to be removed or taken away, you can ease your way into making changes. Once you’re comfortable with the first addition, start adding another one and so on over time.

If you want to jump in with both feet but need some guidance, we’ve got lots of healthy aging meal plans to choose from, all created by dietitians, starting with our 30-Day Mediterranean Diet Meal Plan for Healthy Aging. If you lean more on high-protein options, you’ll want to give our 30-Day High-Protein Meal Plan for Healthy Aging a try.

The Bottom Line

This study suggests that all of the healthy eating patterns that were examined had benefits for healthy aging, which includes living independently while maintaining good quality of life. So whether you want to go entirely plant-based or include some of your favorite dairy, meat or eggs in moderation, your chances of experiencing healthy-aging benefits are higher. Just be sure to also pay attention to how much ultra-processed foods you’re including, like processed meats and sugar- and artificially-sweetened beverages, since these are related to lower odds of healthy aging. 

Other health habits play a role in healthy aging, too. Moving your body more often, getting plenty of quality sleep and managing your stressors all work together to slow down the aging process. It’s also important to spend time with loved ones since loneliness has been linked to poor health and dementia. Taking a whole-health view is always best, since hyperfocusing on one area and trying to be perfect with it can have the opposite effect, increasing stress and negatively influencing mental health.