NEW DELHI: Adopting a healthy lifestyle could counteract more than 60 percent of the effects of genes that shorten lifespan, according to a new study published in the British medical journal Evidence-Based Medicine. . Researchers found four components that make up the most favorable lifestyle combination: smoking cessation, regular physical activity, a good night's sleep, and a healthy diet. A research team including researchers from China's Zhejiang University School of Medicine found that while genes and lifestyle influence a person's lifespan, an unhealthy lifestyle can increase the risk of premature death by 78 percent, regardless of genetic predisposition. I discovered something.
However, “the genetic risk of reduced lifespan and premature death can be offset by approximately 62 percent by a favorable lifestyle,” the authors write.
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Researchers analyzed data from more than 350,000 adults who were recruited to UK Biobank between 2006 and 2010 and whose health status was tracked until 2021. Each participant's genetic predisposition to a longer or shorter lifespan was derived using a polygenic risk score (PRS). . Lifestyle factors such as diet and sleeping habits were also investigated.
The authors found that starting a healthy lifestyle at age 40 could add about 5.5 years to life expectancy for people at high genetic risk for shortened lifespans.
Furthermore, since lifestyle habits tend to become established before middle age, it is necessary to take measures to address the effects of genes that shorten lifespans by then.
The researchers also found that regardless of lifestyle, people with genes that lead to shorter lifespans were 21 percent more likely to die prematurely than those with genes that lead to longer lives.
Additionally, the combination of life-shortening genes and an unfavorable lifestyle can make a person twice as likely to die compared to someone who has both longevity genes and a favorable lifestyle.
“This study reveals the pivotal role of a healthy lifestyle in mitigating the influence of genetic factors on shortened lifespan,” the authors write.
The research team acknowledged that the European ancestry of the participants may limit the applicability of the study's findings to a broader population. Furthermore, because it was an observational study, a causal relationship could not be established, they said.
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