130. Improving your diet could add over a decade to your life
Dr. David Geier is an orthopedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist in Charleston, South Carolina and Charlotte, North Carolina. He helps athletes and active people feel and perform their best, regardless of age, injuries and medical history. He has been featured in major media publications and shows over 2,500 times throughout his career.
Improving your diet could add over a decade to your life, and even more if you start early. In a new study published in the journal PLOS Medicine, researchers from Norway used data from the Global Burden of Disease study, which tracks causes of death, diseases and injuries, and risk factors from patients around the world. They created a model analyzing the effects on longevity if a person replaced a “typical Western diet” focused on red meat and processed foods with essentially a Mediterranean diet with fewer red and processed meats and more fruits and vegetables, legumes, whole grains and nuts. If you start this diet at age 20, women could increase their lifespan by 10 years, and men by 13 years. But even older adults would add years to their lives. The researchers calculated that an 80-year-old could live 3.5 years longer starting this healthier diet.
Through the stories of a dozen athletes whose injuries and recovery advanced the field (including Joan Benoit, Michael Jordan, Brandi Chastain, and Tommy John), Dr. Geier explains how sports medicine makes sports safer for the pros, amateurs, student-athletes, and weekend warriors alike.
