An unhelpful maxim of a time gone by said, ‘a moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips’.
Now, this is neither true nor healthy, and was a product of a skinniness-obsessed zeitgeist that, sadly, has made a big comeback on TikTok.
However, the phrase comes to mind thanks to research published in JAMA Network Open, which has drawn links between people’s carbohydrate intake in their 40s and their health in their 70s.
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Carbs get a bad rap, but we need them and some are healthier than others. Getting your carbs from fruits, vegetables, legumes, and whole grains is the way to go, it seems, with the research linking those sources with as much as a 37% increase in the chance of ageing without developing chronic diseases or experiencing cognitive decline.
Of the participants, those who consumed more low-quality carbs, such as from starchy vegetables like potatoes and refined grains, were 13% less likely to age healthily.
The research also found that high dietary fibre had a strong link with better cardiovascular health and a lower rate of all-cause mortality.
Data was taken form the Nurses’ Health Study, which followed people from 1984 until 2016 and tracked their dietary habits and health. At the outset, participants had to be younger than 60.
Every four years, the participants would complete a questionnaire detailing their lifestyle choices and health status, and it seems it was pretty granular.
The study tracked ‘total carbohydrates, refined carbohydrates, high-quality carbohydrates from whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and legumes’ along with fibre intake, the dietary glycaemic index and the dietary glycaemic load.
"We've all heard that different carbohydrates can affect health differently, whether for weight, energy, or blood sugar levels,” said Andres Ardisson Korat, the study’s lead author, in a statement.
“But rather than just look at the immediate effects of these macronutrients, we wanted to understand what they might mean for good health 30 years later.
"Our findings suggest that carbohydrate quality may be an important factor in healthy aging."
The study included 47,000 women, with 3,706 of those meeting the criteria for ‘healthy’ ageing.
Qualifying people were consuming high-quality carbs on a regular basis, with the increased likelihood of healthy ageing ranging from 6 to 37%. The high-quality carbs also seemed to have a link with better mental health.
"Our results are consistent with other evidence linking consumption of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and legumes with lower risks of chronic diseases, and now we see the association with physical and cognitive function outcomes," said Qi Sun, a senior author of the study.
The study also found that coffee intake had a strong link with better health in later life.
This research had its limitations, however, with the Nurses’ Health Study participants largely being white women in professional healthcare roles. As such, it's unclear how much these trends would be reflected in the general population, but it serves as some helpful direction regardless.
Rachael Davis