Proof that you can avoid the bad genes with just four lifestyle changes – and it will give you five more years of life

People who are genetically predisposed to a shorter life can live about five years longer if they follow a healthy lifestyle, a study suggests.

In the first study of its kind, researchers wanted to assess how survival rates can be improved through exercise, a healthy diet, adequate sleep and not smoking.

The study, which involved more than 350,000 Britons, showed that people with a high genetic risk of a shorter life are a fifth (21 percent) more likely to die young than those with a low genetic risk, regardless of their lifestyle.

Meanwhile, people with unhealthy lifestyles are 78 percent more likely to die prematurely, whether they had life-shortening genes or not.

Having both an unhealthy lifestyle and genes that indicate a shorter lifespan more than doubled the risk of premature death compared to people with more happiness genes and a healthy lifestyle.

But the good news for these people is that lifestyle had a significant degree of control over what happened, according to the findings of experts from the University of Edinburgh and Zhejiang University School of Medicine in China.

Any genetic risk of a shorter lifespan or premature death can be offset by approximately 62 percent by a healthier lifestyle.

The experts said: ‘Participants at high genetic risk could extend life expectancy by about 5.22 years at age 40 with a favorable lifestyle.’

The ‘optimal lifestyle combination’ for a longer life was found to be no smoking, regular exercise, sufficient sleep duration and a healthy diet.

Researchers looked at participants’ polygenic risk score – thousands of genetic variants in a person’s genome to estimate their risk of developing a specific disease.

Each individual genetic variant has a small effect on a person’s risk of disease.

But by looking at all the variants together, scientists can estimate their overall risk of developing a disease.

People were grouped into three genetically determined lifespan categories, including long (20.1 percent), average (60.1 percent), and short (19.8 percent), and into three lifestyle score categories, including favorable (23.1 percent), average ( 55.6 percent). cent) and unfavorable (21.3 percent).

They then looked at it alongside lifestyle factors such as diet, exercise, sleep and whether they smoked.

The study, published in the journal BMJ Evidence Based Medicine, followed people for an average of 13 years, during which time 24,239 deaths occurred.

Matt Lambert, senior health education officer at the World Cancer Research Fund, said: ‘This new research shows that, despite genetic factors, living a healthy lifestyle, including eating a balanced, nutritious diet and staying active, can help us live longer to live. We also know that it can reduce the risk of cancer.’

WHAT SHOULD A BALANCED DIET LOOK LIKE?

Meals should be based on potatoes, bread, rice, pasta or other starchy carbohydrates, preferably whole grains, according to the NHS

• Eat at least 5 portions of varied fruit and vegetables every day. All fresh, frozen, dried and canned fruits and vegetables count

• Basic meals on potatoes, bread, rice, pasta or other starchy carbohydrates, preferably whole wheat

• 30 grams of fiber per day: This is the same as eating all of the following: 5 servings of fruits and vegetables, 2 whole-grain cereal cookies, 2 thick slices of whole-grain bread, and a large baked potato with the skin still on

• Provide some dairy or dairy alternatives (such as soy drinks), opting for lower fat and lower sugar options

• Eat some beans, legumes, fish, eggs, meat and other proteins (including 2 portions of fish per week, one portion of which is fatty)

• Choose unsaturated oils and spreads and consume them in small quantities

• Drink 6-8 cups/glasses of water per day

• Adults should have less than 6 g of salt and 20 g of saturated fat for women or 30 g for men per day

Source: NHS Eatwell guide