Science News Archive

Do Four Things, Gain Fourteen Years

Researchers at Cambridge University have found the secret to living fourteen years longer - don't smoke, drink moderate amounts of alcohol, take small amounts of exercise and, above all, eat your greens!

Professor Kay-Tee Khaw and her colleagues followed up 20,000 men and women aged between 45 and 71 years old who were recruited between 1994 and 1997. The study subjects filled in a simple questionnaire about their lifestyles and earned a point for every positive answer to being a non-smoker, light drinker, and regular exerciser. They also earned a point if a blood test revealed a vitamin C level consistent with eating about 5 daily portions of fruit and vegetables.

Deaths amongst the volunteers were then recorded until 2006. When they analysed the results the researchers found that, over an average period of eleven years, people who scored zero were four times more likely to die than participants who had scored four points. They also found that people scoring zero had about the same risk of dying as someone fourteen years older than them who had a score of 4 points.

So the moral of this story is quit smoking, drink in moderation, take the stairs not the lift and follow the five a day plan (that's portions of fruit and veg, not hamburgers), and you might live 14 years longer!

13th Jan 2008