Four simple behaviors — being physically active, not smoking, drinking moderately and consuming fruits and vegetables — can increase longevity as much as 14 years, researchers have found.
The study, published recently in the online journal PLoS Medicine, surveyed 20,244 men and women (ages 45 to 79) in the United Kingdom between 1993 and 1997. The participants, none of whom had cardiovascular disease or cancer at the beginning of the study, were asked if they were nonsmokers, were physically active, had moderate alcohol consumption and ate five servings of fruits or vegetables a day.
One point was assigned for each behavior. Participants were tracked until 2006, and those with a score of zero were four times more likely to have died as those who scored a 4.
