This has now been proven by scientists at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ/Heidelberg). The unhealthiest lifestyle plus unfavorable blood values lead statistically to a life span that is almost 23 years shorter in men. A few years ago, scientists at the German research institute proved that people who heed all the recommendations for health prevention live up to 17 years longer than their contemporaries with very unhealthy lifestyle habits. Now the experts have tried to make these results even more precise by taking certain blood serum markers into account. “We now wanted to know whether we can predict life expectancy even more precisely if we also determine suitable serum biomarkers,” Rudolf Kaaks, epidemiologist at the DKFZ, was quoted as saying in a press release.
Diet, lifestyle factors and cancer
For this purpose, five blood values that can be easily determined by laboratory tests were selected: the growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF-15) indicates oxidative stress, inflammation and mitochondrial dysfunction, the cystatin C level indicates kidney function and NT-proBNP indicates heart damage. Elevated levels of the so-called HbA1c signal diabetes and unhealthy metabolism, the C-reactive protein CRP is a marker for systemic inflammation.
For the current study, the DKFZ epidemiologists were able to access the blood samples from the Heidelberg EPIC study participants. The DKFZ has been involved in this pan-European study on the connection between nutrition, lifestyle factors and cancer for more than 20 years. The Heidelberg EPIC cohort includes more than 25,000 middle-aged to older participants. 2,571 participants had died by the end of the follow-up period (2014).
Difference of 22.7 years of life
The scientists determined a profile of lifestyle-related risk factors (smoking, body mass index/BMI, hip circumference, alcohol consumption, physical activity, diabetes, high blood pressure) for all study participants. “If the researchers took this profile into account alone, the life expectancy of men with the best profile was 16.8 years higher than that of study participants with the most unhealthy lifestyle habits. For women, this difference was only 9.87 years,” wrote the DKFZ.
If the serum markers were taken into account in addition to lifestyle, there was a difference of 22.7 years of life between men with the most unfavorable values compared to the most favorable group. For the study participants, this difference was 14 years. Apart from the fact that such study results can help to develop future prevention strategies, this could also have health-educational value. “Probable loss of life expectancy is a useful and easy-to-understand measure that doctors, for example, can use to motivate their patients to give up unhealthy habits. It could also be used to identify people with particularly high health risks who could benefit from direct interventions “, explained study lead author Bernard Srour.
The study in detail can be found here. (DOI: 10.1093/aging/afab271)
Source: Nachrichten
