United States: The researchers annually echo these words, saying it’s not necessarily genetics that dictates the health of a person, and evidence is found to back this up.
More about the findings of the study
The study revealed that a healthy lifestyle contributes to the protection from life-shortening gene effects that were 60 percent offsetting.
The scenarios would suggest that individuals who are susceptible to a mean shorter life could increase their lifespan by as much as 5.5 years if, by age 40, they had already made healthier lifestyle choices, according to the results, as US News reported.
However, having a lifestyle with a stagnant effect on health is linked with a 78 percent greater probability of causing death at a young age, notwithstanding a person’s genetic predisposition.
According to Dr. Xue Li, the research team lead, who is working at the Center of Clinical Big Data and Analytics of The Second Affiliated Hospital at Zhejiang University School of Medicine in Hangzhou, China said regarding the study highlights “the pivotal role of a healthy lifestyle in mitigating the impact of genetic factors on lifespan reduction,” as US News reported.
He added, “Public health policies for improving healthy lifestyles would serve as potent complements to conventional healthcare and mitigate the influence of genetic factors on human lifespan.”
The latest study findings were published in the journal BMJ Evidence Based Medicine on April 29.
How was the study conducted?
The authors analyzed the data from almost 354,000 individuals enrolled in the UK Biobank project, which includes genetics and health information from the participants.
A mortality rate greater than 24 thousand was observed over the median of 12.5 years of mean follow-up overall.
Every person in the study was given the genetic health scores based on their family’s condition and his or her lifestyle score.
A healthy lifestyle was expressed in no smoking, moderate drinking intake, daily exercise, a body shape that was not overweight, enough sleep and a proper diet, according to researchers, as US News reported.
Roughly a quarter (23 percent) had as healthy a style as possible by the measure of these indicators, half (56 percent) of participants had a moderately healthy lifestyle, and 22 percent had an unhealthy style.
The prognosis for those genetically at risk of a short life is 21 percent more favorable than for those genetically at risk of living long lives, so lifestyle does not appear to be a factor.
However, the unhealthy have a 78 percent likelihood of early death compared to those with a healthy lifestyle in a healthy environment.
Given the results, people can live twice as long as compared(combined) to bad genetics, and those with unhealthy lifestyles are twice as likely to die as those with good genes, and healthy was what it showed.
These factors were the most important that one could not neglect, researchers said – not smoking a wide range of lifestyle choices, regularly exercising, getting enough sleep, and eating a healthy diet.