Johns Hopkins University researchers followed more than 6,200 men and women, age 44-84, from white, African-American, Hispanic, and Chinese backgrounds for an average of more than 7 years. People who exercised regularly, ate a Mediterranean-style diet, kept a normal weight, and did not smoke had an 80 percent lower death rate over the study’s time period compared to participants with none of the healthy behaviors. Roger Blumenthal, M.D., a cardiologist and professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, director of the Ciccarone Center, president of the American Heart Association’s Maryland affiliate, and senior author of the study says the findings “bolster recent recommendations by the American Heart Association, which call for maintaining a diet rich in vegetables, fruits, nuts, whole grains and fish, keeping a BMI of less than 25, being physically active and not smoking.”
American Journal of Epidemiology. Epub 2013 June 10. [Ahmed, et al.]