The 7 Foods That Determine Your Lifespan

New research shows that there are 7 foods that account for half of all deaths.  In this article, I discuss these 7 foods that determine your lifespan.

Foods That Determine Your Lifespan Study

As you may have seen, this recently published study gathered a lot of media attention.  The reason for this is because no other study has ever demonstrated that half of all deaths can be narrowed down to just a small number of foods.

The senior author on this study was cardiologist, Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, from Tufts University in Boston. Dariush and I worked together as medical residents at Stanford University 22 years ago.

To identify these 7 foods that were responsible for so many deaths, Dr. Mozaffarian and colleagues studied the diets of 702,308 people who had died.  Below are the top 7 foods that determine your lifespan according to their study.

1. Excessive Salt from Processed Foods: 9.5% of Deaths

Dr. Mozaffarian and his team identified 2,000 mg of sodium as the number that put people at risk.  When I speak with patients about salt, they are usually quick to tell me that they never use the salt shaker.  Personally, I would love to see my patients use the salt shaker more as this would mean that they are spending more time cooking real food at home.

The problem isn't the salt shaker but rather processed and prepared foods.  Approximately 80% of the sodium most people get every day comes from processed foods, prepared foods, or fast foods.  For example, a few slices of bread, a slice of pizza, or eating out for lunch could easily put you past the 2,000 mg level of sodium.

Thus, even though the researchers blamed salt as the number one killer, I really don't think it was the salt.  Anyone eating a high salt diet is also eating a lot of processed foods and fast foods.  While there is a lot of salt in these foods, there is also a ton of sugar, unhealthy oils, and other chemicals and preservatives as well.

2. Not Enough Nuts and Seeds: 8.5% of Deaths

When it comes to the number two dietary factor that kills people, this study recommends that you eat at least 20 grams of nuts or seeds each day.  Twenty grams works out to be just under an ounce or a small handful daily.

While cutting back on salt from processed foods may be difficult, eating a handful of nuts or seeds should be something everyone looks forward to.  Personally, my struggle is not with eating enough nuts and seeds but that I want to eat too many nuts and seeds.

3. Eating Processed Meats: 8.2% of Deaths

For processed meats, there is no safe level according to the findings of this study.  The problem is that there is something about the curing or processing of meats that creates a risk to your health.

If you can't live without your processed meats like deli meats, bacon, sausage, pepperoni, or hot dogs, then just consider processed meats as a rare treat.  Alternatively, it is possible that the uncured and nitrate-free varieties of these processed meats may not present the same health risk.  To find uncured and nitrate-free processed meats, try shopping at your local health food store.

4. Not Enough Omega 3 Fats: 7.8% of Deaths

Enough can't be said about the health benefits of omega 3 fats.  These fats are very helpful in preventing cardiovascular disease and other conditions.

For this study, they defined not enough omega 3 fats as eating less than 250 mg of seafood based omega 3 fats daily.  If you consider that a single serving of salmon has about 1,500 mg of omega 3 fats, that works out to be one serving of salmon every six days.  Of course, to minimize mercury, PCBs, and other contaminants, eating wild fish, smaller fish, or ocean fish is a great approach.

In addition to getting enough seafood based omega 3 fats,