SDA & Life Expectancy

[Guest guest]

SDA & Life Expectancy

 

Summary of life-expectancies of Californians:

 

....Vegetarian SDA female = 85.7 yrs

non-vegetarian SDA female = 84

................Non-SDA female = 79.6

 

.......Vegetarian SDA male = 83.3

....non-vegetarian SDA male = 81

...................Non-SDA male = 73

 

In addition, these other 4 factors effect longevity by 1.25 to 2.75

yrs:

1) regular exercise,

2) eating nuts 5-6 times/week,

3) healthy weight,

4) history of no smoking.

 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

 

Study Links Adventist Lifestyle With Longevity

 

July 17, 2001 Loma Linda, California, USA .... [bettina Krause/ANN]

 

http://www.adventist.org/news/data/2001/06/0995375716/

 

Dr. Gary E. Fraser, director of the Loma Linda University Center for

Health Research, speaks to the press at the release of a 12-year

health study. Lifestyle habits practiced by many Seventh-day

Adventists contribute to a longer-than-average life expectancy

according the study's results.

 

 

 

Lifestyle habits practiced by many Seventh-day Adventists contribute

to a longer-than-average life expectancy, according to results

released last week from a 12-year study of 34,000 Adventists in

California. This group of Adventists appears to be the longest-lived

population that has ever been studied and described in a formal way,

says Dr. Gary E. Fraser, the study's principal researcher, and

director of the Loma Linda University Center for Health Research.

 

The study focused on five lifestyle factors, tracking whether

individuals engaged in regular exercise, were vegetarian, had a

history of smoking, maintained a healthy body weight, or ate a small

serving of nuts five to six times a week. Researchers studied the

impact on longevity of each of these habits, both separately and in

combination.

 

" Even though we knew that Adventists live longer, we'd never really

dug any deeper and asked, 'What are the important characteristics of

being an Adventist that seem to account for that?' " explains Fraser.

Although the five habits tracked in the study are not the only

important aspects of a healthy lifestyle, says Fraser, " they were the

factors that came out as being statistically significant predictors

of mortality. "

 

Researchers discovered that the life expectancy of a 30-year-old

vegetarian Adventist woman was 85.7 years, and 83.3 years for a

vegetarian Adventist man. This exceeds the life expectancies of other

Californians by 6.1 years for women and 9.5 years for men.

Non-vegetarian Adventist women in the group had a life expectancy of

84 years, and non-vegetarian men, 81 years.

 

While health experts have long preached the benefits of a healthy

diet and regular exercise, this study is the first to actually

identify the number of years of life added by specific health

practices. The results show that the effect of each factor separately

accounted for between 1.25 and 2.75 extra years of life, with

exercise and nut consumption producing the slightly stronger effects.

 

 

On the other hand, life expectancy dropped nine to 10 years for

Adventists who were overweight, past smokers, and non-vegetarian, and

who did not exercise or eat nuts regularly.

 

But the study also holds out hope for people whose current lifestyle

is less than healthy. " Individuals who make multiple and modest

changes in their lifestyle stand to gain a lot, " says Fraser. " By

making some choices in how you live you can probably gain a number of

years. " Even one or two changes can positively impact life

expectancy, he says.

 

Data for the study was gathered between 1976 and 1988 and the results

were published in the July 9, 2001 issue of the Archives of Internal

Medicine. Loma Linda University Medical Center, an Adventist facility

located in southern California, is internationally known for its

research and treatments in areas including heart transplant surgery

and non-invasive proton beam therapy for prostate and breast cancer.

 

Previously posted to SoFlaVegans list