A healthy lifestyle can even compensate for poor genetic predisposition!

Although the secret of eternal youth has not yet been revealed, scientists are increasingly interested in the effect of lifestyle on longevity. Many studies have recently established a link between healthy habits and longevity, but a team of Chinese and Scottish researchers now shows that a healthy lifestyle may even compensate for poor genetic predisposition.

Are we really the masters of our destiny? This can be believed if you rely on a recent study conducted by scientists from the Faculty of Medicine of Zhejiang University (China) and the University of Edinburgh (Scotland) and published in a journal review. BMJ Evidence-based medicine. This work, conducted on more than 350,000 adults, suggests that a healthy lifestyle, based in particular on a balanced diet, active physicalphysical Regular or even non-smoking can counterbalance the effects of genes that shorten life expectancy. durationduration life, amounting to more than 60%. Findings that demonstrate the importance of making good decisions every day to stay healthy longer and live more years of life.

The optimal combination for a healthy lifestyle

For the purposes of their study, the researchers relied on data from 353,742 adults recruited by using there UK Biobank between 2006 and 2010, and whose health status was monitored until 2021, as well as in several related studies. Polygenic risk scores were calculated to determine genetic predisposition to living longer, as well as a score associated with a healthy lifestyle. This included, inter alia, no smoking, moderate consumptionalcoholalcohol, balanced diet, regular physical activity and quality sleep. Note that more than 24,000 participants died during this work.

The study initially suggested that participants genetically predisposed to a shorter lifespan were 21% more likely to die prematurely than those genetically predisposed to a longer life, regardless of the lifestyle choices adopted during their lives. Despite certain limitations, such as assessing lifestyle only once during the study or lack of diversity in participants, this work shows that a healthy lifestyle can balance genetic risk by more than 60%.

A healthy lifestyle can reduce the impact of life-shortening genes by 60%

The researchers go even further: They estimate that participants at high genetic risk for shorter life expectancy could increase their life expectancy by about 5.5 years at age 40 by adopting a healthier lifestyle. An observation that, however, suggests that adopting healthy habits must be undertaken as soon as possible in order to see such a significant increase in life expectancy. Also note that some lifestyle habits were especially important, such as not smoking, exercising, getting enough sleep, and eating healthy.

” This study explains the important role of a healthy lifestyle in mitigating the influence of genetic factors on shortened life expectancy. Public health policies that promote healthy lifestyles will effectively complement traditional health care and mitigate the impact of genetic factors on human life expectancy. “- the authors of this work assessed in a press release.

Bad habits vs good habits

Among other lessons, participants whose lifestyle was not considered healthy were 78% more likely to die prematurely than those who adopted good habits, regardless of their genetic predisposition.

Last August, a similar study of more than 700,000 people aged 40 to 99 found that integrating eight healthy habits into daily life by age 40 or later allowed men to live an average of 24 years longer, and 21 years for women compared to those who did not adopt anyone. And here we talked about physical activity, quitting smoking, learning to cope with stress, a balanced diet, and maintaining personal hygiene. sleepsleepdrink alcohol in moderation, do not become dependent on opioidsopioidsand maintain positive social relationships.