Science Digest: Eating Your Way to Health And Longevity

This week’s paper, “Optimal dietary patterns for healthy aging”, was published March 2025 in Nature Medicine – one of the world’s highest-ranked (Q1) medical journals1. I selected this paper because “healthy aging through diet” is everywhere right now, from Instagram wellness influencers to your Facebook feed.

Everyone’s talking about what to eat to age well, but most of the advice is either vague (“eat more vegetables”) or contradictory. This study presents 30 years of data from over 100,000 people (both women and men).

The Study in a Nutshell

Researchers from Harvard examined data from more than 105,000 adults across two of the most influential long-term studies: the Nurses’ Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study. 

This was a prospective observational analysis (not an interventional study) but with up to 30 years of follow-up, it offers rare insight into how midlife habits influence aging. They defined healthy aging as living to at least 70 years with good cognitive, physical, and mental health, and no major chronic diseases.

8 Well-Known Dietary Patterns

The team assessed adherence to 8 well-known dietary patterns:

1: Alternative Healthy Eating Index (AHEI) 

A diet quality score based on foods and nutrients linked to lower risk of chronic disease, emphasizing vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and healthy fats while limiting red and processed meat, sugar, and sodium.

2: Mediterranean diet (aMED) 

A dietary pattern rich in olive oil, fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, fish, and whole grains, with moderate wine and low red meat intake, long associated with cardiovascular and metabolic benefits.

3: DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) 

A plan developed to lower blood pressure through high intake of fruits, vegetables, low-fat dairy, and whole grains, while reducing salt, sugar, and saturated fat.