Why it’s worth sticking with that New Year diet

GOOD intentions to eat more healthily in January often peter out as the month wears on.

But persevering with that New Year diet could have major benefits for long-term wellbeing, research suggests.

Scientists have discovered people who have clean eating patterns have a lower risk of dying from cancer, heart attacks, stroke or respiratory diseases.

The team, from Harvard University, analysed data on 75,000 women and 44,000 men who were observed for up to 36 years.

Participants were asked to fill out a dietary questionnaire every two to four years which showed whether they were following healthy eating patterns such as the Mediterranean diet or eating plant-based foods.

They were scored using the US Healthy Eating and Alternate Healthy Eating Indexes. Both give scores based on how often a person eats healthy and unhealthy foods.

Results, published in the journal Jama Internal Medicine, revealed those who stuck to good eating patterns had a lower risk of death over the course of the study.

Each pattern – whether it was the Mediterranean diet, a plantbased diet, or the Healthy Eating indexes – was individually linked with a 14-20 per cent lower risk of death if people followed them properly. People who stuck to these regimes closely tended to be older, less likely to smoke and more likely to exercise and have a lower BMI.

The authors said their findings are most likely because all healthy eating patterns shared several components such as eating more whole grains, fruits, nuts and legumes.

They wrote: ‘In this cohort study, greater adherence to various healthy eating patterns was consistently associated with a lower risk of death.’ A separate study has found going on a diet can keep you slimmer for at least five years.

The largest scientific review of weight loss over time found those who started weight loss programmes lost almost 11lbs (4.9kg) on average. Compared to people not on weight loss programmes, they remained slimmer for at least five years and the improvement in their quality of life was found to last nine years on average.