Western Diet Linked to Chronic Diseases, Early Death

A new study has found a link between western diet - high fat dairy, sweets, fried food, processed and red meat - and higher chances of being diagnosed with a chronic illness in old age and dying early.

Researchers looked at the health outcomes of people not following dietary guideline (Alternative Healthy Eating Index or AHEI), which is known to reduce heart disease and diabetes risk

"The impact of diet on specific age-related diseases has been studied extensively, but few investigations have adopted a more holistic approach to determine the association of diet with overall health at older ages. We examined whether diet, assessed in midlife, using dietary patterns and adherence to the Alternative Healthy Eating Index (AHEI), is associated with aging phenotypes, identified after a mean 16-year follow-up," said Tasnime Akbaraly, PhD, Inserm, Montpellier, France, lead author of the study.

The study was based on data obtained from 3,775 men and 1,575 women between1985 and 2009 who were around 51 years of age and were enrolled in the Whitehall II study. Researchers obtained information about the participants' health using hospital records, according to a news release.

About 4 percent of the study participants were aging ideally, meaning that they were free from chronic conditions and could get a high score on tests to assess physical and mental agility. Over 73 percent of the participants had normal aging.

Researchers also found that people who did not adhere to AHEI had higher chances of dying early due to both cardiovascular and noncardiovascular events. The study also showed that western diet greatly reduced participants' chances of having an ideal aging.

The study is published in the journal The American Journal of Medicine.