A healthy lifestyle can offset the influence of genetics by more than 60% and add an additional five years to life, according to the first study of its kind.
It is well established that some people are genetically predisposed to a shorter lifespan. It is also well known that lifestyle factors, particularly smoking, drinking, diet, and physical activity, can influence longevity.
However, until now, no research has been conducted to understand the extent to which a healthy lifestyle can suppress genetic imbalance.
Results from several long-term studies suggest that a healthy lifestyle can offset the effects of life-shortening genes by 62% and extend lifespan by as much as five years. The results were: Published in the journal “BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine”.
“This study reveals the pivotal role of a healthy lifestyle in mitigating the influence of genetic factors on shortened lifespan,” the researchers concluded. “Public health policies to improve healthy lifestyles will be a powerful complement to conventional medicine and reduce the influence of genetic factors on human lifespan.”
The study involved 353,742 people from the UK Biobank and found that people with high genetic risk have a shorter lifespan and are at 21% higher risk of dying prematurely than those with low genetic risk, regardless of their lifestyle. % was shown to be higher.
Meanwhile, researchers from China's Zhejiang University School of Medicine and the University of Edinburgh found that people with unhealthy lifestyles had a 78% increased chance of dying early, regardless of genetic risk.
The study added that people with unhealthy lifestyles and genes for shorter lifespans had more than twice the risk of dying early than those with luckier genes and healthier lifestyles.
However, researchers found that people seemed to have some control over what happened. They found that the genetic risk of shortened lifespan and premature death can be offset by about 62% by a favorable lifestyle.
“Participants at high genetic risk could increase their life expectancy by approximately 5.22 years at age 40 if they practiced a good lifestyle,” the researchers wrote.
The “optimal lifestyle combination” for longevity was found to be “no smoking, regular physical activity, adequate sleep time, and a healthy diet.”
The study followed people for an average of 13 years, during which time 24,239 people died. People have three genetically determined lifespan categories, including long-lived (20.1%), intermediate (60.1%), and short-lived (19.8%), as well as favorable (23.1%), moderate (55.6%), and unfavorable ( (21.3%) into three lifestyle score categories. ).
Researchers used polygenic risk scores to examine multiple genetic variations to derive a person's overall genetic predisposition to a longer or shorter lifespan. Other scores looked at whether people smoked, drank, exercised, their body shape, healthy eating, and sleep.
Matt Lambert, health information and promotions manager at the World Cancer Research Fund, said: “This new research shows that despite genetic factors, eating a balanced, nutritious diet and staying active can help. “This shows that living a healthy lifestyle can help you live longer.” ”