Poor Diet Not Dependent on Wealth In Our Later Years

Previous research has found that poor diet has an impact on healthy aging and the onset of age-related chronic diseases. Researchers sought to determine what drives the elderly to adopt a healthy or unhealthy diet. They found that, contrary to popular belief, a healthy diet is not linked to wealth levels, but rather to habits set earlier in life.

The researchers examined four different data sets taken from studies of the quality of life of seniors in Finland, Sweden, the UK, and Italy. After analyzing the numbers, they found that people with the most education, women, and individuals who didn’t live by themselves had the healthiest diets.

What they did not find was that quality of diet was linked to socioeconomic status. They believe, instead, that many of these adults formed unhealthy food habits earlier in life. Based on their findings, they propose the use of public health informational to educate seniors about healthy eating.

Researchers from MTT Agrifood Research Finland conducted the study. It was published online ahead of print on May 9, 2013, in Public Health Nutrition.

A healthy diet is essential for every aspect of your health. One increasingly popular and effective diet is known as the Mediterranean diet, which includes lots of fruits, vegetables, legumes, fish, olive oil, and nuts.

This diet has been to improve heart health, lower the risk of Alzheimer’s, diabetes, asthma, lower rates of obesity and even decrease the overall risk of mortality.