Healthy lifestyle associated with more years free of chronic disease

Photo Cred: Emma Simpson/Unsplash

By Katherine Shagoury

A combination of healthy lifestyle factors may be associated with living free of chronic disease, according to a new analysis published in JAMA Internal Medicine.

For the study, researchers looked at how lifestyle influences the development of chronic diseases in more than 100,000 adults between the ages of 40 and 75 years. The research team looks at participants’ levels of smoking, physical activity, and alcohol consumption, as well as body mass index (BMI), and compared with the number of years they were without chronic disease, including type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke, cancer, asthma, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

The researchers found that participants with a low BMI who met at least two of three lifestyle factors—non-smoker, active, or moderate alcohol consumption—significantly increased the number of years they were disease-free.

Click here for the full study.