Simple diet change that can cut the risk of heart attack, cancer and diabetes

Consuming more whole plant foods can provide protection not only against one, but several chronic illnesses later in life. Let's take vegetables, fruits, legumes, whole grains, and nuts, they are the essentials of a plant-centric diet which have been accredited for years to keep humans healthy.

In an international study in The Lancet Healthy Longevity, scientists drew comparisons from more than 400,000 UK and European adults in two of the planet's largest health studies, the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) and the UK Biobank. The goal was to determine if a healthy plant-based diet can lower the risk for multimorbidity, which is the occurrence of two or more long-term conditions such as cancer, heart disease, or type 2 diabetes.

During an 11-year follow-up, the research substantiated that the study participants with consumption of a healthier, whole-food plant-based diet were less likely to have more than one chronic disease, particularly under the age of 60.

The research

Researchers targeted adults 35 to 60 years old with no type 2 diabetes, heart disease, or cancer at baseline. In this way, they could identify fresh cases of illness appearing. The EPIC study participants completed detailed food questionnaires on what they had eaten over the last year, whereas the UK Biobank gathered several 24-hour diets in the long term.

Scientists created two scoring systems based on these diet diaries:

Healthful plant-based diet index (hPDI) – Increased scores indicated higher consumption of minimally processed plant foods such as vegetables, whole grains, nuts, legumes, and fruits.Unhealthful plant-based diet index (uPDI) – Increased scores indicated a diet with higher consumption of processed plant foods such as refined grains, sweetened beverages, and processed snacks.

They then contrasted these scores with the over time incidence of chronic disease to look for trends.

The results

Of over 400,000 individuals, 6,604 developed two or more long term conditions during the study period. Both data sets showed that individuals with higher hPDI scores were significantly less likely to develop two conditions:

• A 10-point rise in hPDI was associated with an 11% reduced risk in EPIC and a 19% reduced risk in UK Biobank.
• The impact was more profound for type 2 diabetes, with the risk falling by 18% in EPIC and 26% in UK Biobank.
• Young adults (<60) stood to benefit the most, but older study participants in the UK Biobank study also found reduced risk.

In contrast, higher consumption of processed plant foods (uPDI) was linked with greater chronic disease risk among both young and older adults, especially in the UK Biobank cohort.

What does this mean for us

This research backs a simple message: it's not so much about eating more plant foods, it's about eating the right ones. Whole, minimally processed plant foods offer the strongest protection, while sweet, refined, or heavily processed plant foods may even have a detrimental effect.

Above all, one does not have to be on an entirely plant-based diet, minor adjustments such as replacing whole grains and vegetables from packaged foods, street junk with better foods can do a world of good in our lives