Men should steer clear of fruit juice and cake and have plenty of coffee and fibre, but women should eat more fish and dairy to improve their longevity.
Scientists have revealed sex-specific diet tips for middle-aged people who want to add two to three years to their lives.
The link between a healthy diet and a lower risk of dying early from a range of diseases is well established, but researchers from the UK and China wanted to assess whether men and women should be given different priorities in what to eat and what to avoid.
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Data from more than 100,000 British people has indicated that a 45-year-old man can add 1.9 to 3 years to his life by following a diet specifically designed to reduce the risk of developing diabetes. A 45-year-old woman can add 1.5 to 2.3 years with a form of the Mediterranean diet.
The researchers from Queen Mary University, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Huazhong University of Science and Technology said that after “decades of rapid increase, the trajectory of life expectancy has decelerated in recent years”, blaming increasingly unhealthy diets.
Both men and women should eat more nuts, fruit and unsaturated fats
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They analysed data from 103,649 people held in the UK Biobank, a vast repository of genetic, health and lifestyle information, to look at five diets and their impact on “all-cause mortality” rates, or the risk of dying early from any disease or condition, including cardiovascular and respiratory diseases and cancer.
The participants were followed for an average of 10.6 years, during which period 4,314 of them died. Their ages and causes of death were analysed with data about their dietary habits.
Adhering closely to any one of the five diets was associated with a reduction of between 18 and 24 per cent in the risk of dying during the study period, particularly through a reduction in the risk of cancer and respiratory disease.
The healthiest diets for men and women overlapped and both are recommended to eat larger amounts of nuts, fruit and unsaturated fats and lower amounts of red and processed meat.
Fish was particularly recommended for women
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For women, whole grains, vegetables, legumes, fish and dairy were highly recommended and a moderate alcohol intake was deemed beneficial. Red meat was the only thing women were told to reduce.
For men, fibre and coffee were recommended and trans fats — found in some baked and fried goods — as well as “sugar-sweetened beverages and fruit juice” were to be avoided, as well as red meat.
The research was published in the journal Science Advances to coincide with a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Phoenix, Arizona.
It found that men benefitted most from following the diabetes risk reduction diet (DRRD). A 45-year-old man whose diet adhered most closely to the DRRD could expect to live another 36.7 years, to an average age of 81.7, compared with another 33.6 years — an average age of 78.6 — for those whose diets were furthest from it.
For women, the best diet was the alternate Mediterranean diet (AMED), which has a specific scoring system for food groups.
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A 45-year-old woman whose diet scored highly on the AMED scale could expect to live for another 39.4 years, to 84.4 years old, on average, compared with another 37.1 years — an age of 82.1 — for those whose diets got the lowest scores.
The AMED diet recommends that some alcohol is better than none for both men and women. Women should aim for between 0.6 and 1.87 units of alcohol — no more than a small to medium glass of wine — per day. Men should aim for between 1.25 and 3.75 units per day, no more than about a pint and a half of beer.
The researchers concluded: “Our results underscore the significance of adhering to healthy dietary patterns based on dietary recommendations for extending life expectancy, offering individuals the flexibility to adapt these dietary patterns according to their preferences and traditions.”
The link held true even for those who do not have genes linked to greater longevity, they said.