Adherence to Healthy Eating Patterns Linked to Lower Mortality Risk

MONDAY, Jan. 9, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Greater adherence to various healthy eating patterns is associated with a lower risk for total and cause-specific mortality, according to a study published online Jan. 9 in JAMA Internal Medicine.

Zhilei Shan, M.D., Ph.D., from the Hubei Key Laboratory of Food Nutrition and Safety in Wuhan, China, and colleagues examined the associations of dietary scores for four healthy eating patterns (Healthy Eating Index 2015 [HEI-2015], Alternate Mediterranean Diet [AMED] score, Healthful Plant-based Diet Index [HPDI], and Alternate Healthy Eating Index [AHEI]) with the risk for total and cause-specific mortality among initially healthy women from the Nurses' Health Study (NHS) and men from the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (HPFS). The final sample included 75,230 women and 44,085 men from the NHS and HPFS, respectively.

The researchers found that 31,263 women and 22,900 men died during 3,559,056 person-years of follow-up. The pooled multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios of total mortality were 0.81, 0.82, 0.86, and 0.80 for the HEI-2015, AMED score, HPDI, and AHEI, respectively, when comparing the highest with the lowest quintiles. Significant inverse associations were seen for all dietary scores with death from cardiovascular disease, cancer, and respiratory disease. Inverse associations were seen for the AMED score and AHEI with mortality from neurodegenerative disease. In different racial and ethnic groups, the inverse associations between these scores and the risk for mortality were consistent.

"Our findings support the recommendations of Dietary Guidelines for Americans for multiple healthy eating patterns for all U.S. individuals with diverse cultural and personal food traditions and preferences," the authors write.

Several authors disclosed financial ties to the biopharmaceutical and nutrition industries.

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