New Delhi: Adoption of a healthy lifestyle The effects of life-shortening genes can be prevented by more than 60 percent, according to new research published in. British Medical Journal evidence based medicine. Researchers found four factors to create the most optimal lifestyle combination – no smokingRegular physical activity, adequate night sleep and a healthy diet.
The team, including researchers from China’s Zhejiang University School of Medicine, found that genes and lifestyle work together to influence a person’s health. Life spanAn unhealthy lifestyle can increase the risk of dying prematurely by 78 percent, regardless of their genetic predisposition.
Although genetic risk “About 62 percent of early or premature death could be offset by favorable lifestyle factors,” the authors wrote.
Researchers analyzed data from more than 3.5 million adults enrolled in the UK Biobank between 2006 and 2010, and whose health was tracked until 2021. Each participant’s genetic predisposition to a longer or shorter lifespan was determined using the polygenic risk score (PRS). , Lifestyle factors, including diet and sleep habits, were also studied.
The authors found that starting a healthy lifestyle at age 40 can increase life expectancy by about 5.5 years in people at younger ages who are at high genetic risk.
Given that lifestyle habits become entrenched well before middle age, measures need to be taken earlier to address the effects of life-shortening genes, he said.
The researchers also found that regardless of lifestyle, individuals who had genes favoring shorter life spans were 21 percent more likely to die early than those whose genes favored living longer.
Furthermore, a combination of life-shortening genes and an unfavorable lifestyle may make a person twice as likely to die than a person who has both long-life genes and a favorable lifestyle.
“This study highlights the important role of a healthy lifestyle in reducing the impact of genetic factors on reduced lifespan,” the authors wrote.
The team acknowledged that the European ancestry of the participants may limit the extrapolation of the findings to the broader population. Moreover, being an observational study, no causal relationship could be established, he said.
