Science says drinking wine and beer and eating chocolate could help you live longer

2018 has been the year of clean eating, but a new study has revealed beer, wine and chocolate, essentially non-clean foods, could actually help you live longer.

Scientists have revealed that a simple anti-inflammatory diet, which includes treats like wine and chocolate, could slash the risk of premature death in middle-aged and older people by almost a fifth.

Researchers at the Warsaw University of Life Sciences in Poland analysed the lifestyle of over 68,000 men and women aged between 45 and 83 over a 16-year period.

The study, published in the Journal of Internal Medicine, compared the mortality of those who followed an anti-inflammatory diet and those who didn’t.

The results revealed that those participants who followed an anti-inflammatory diet, which includes regularly eating foods such as fruits, vegetables, low fat cheese, nuts while also consuming treats such as tea, coffee, chocolate and moderate amounts of red wine and beer, had an 18 per cent lower risk of death by any cause.

What’s more, their risk of cardiovascular mortality was a fifth lower and they had a 13% reduced risk of death caused by cancer.

Of the people who smoked, those who followed an anti-inflammatory were also found to have a reduced risk of an early death, of up to a third, compared with the smokers who didn’t follow a similar diet.

“It is known that fruits, vegetables, tea, coffee, red wine, beer and chocolate are rich in antioxidants,” said lead author Dr. Joanna Kaluza, an associate professor at the Warsaw University of Life Sciences, in Poland.

“Wholegrain bread, breakfast cereal, vegetables and fresh as well as dried fruits are rich in dietary fibre; and olive and canola oils are rich sources of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids, which are of potential health benefit because of their anti-inflammatory properties.”

“Our dose-response analysis showed that even partial adherence to the anti-inflammatory diet may provide a health benefit,” she added.

An anti-inflammatory diet isn’t the only lifestyle choice that has been touted as the key to a longer life.

Earlier this year a study, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, revealed that drinking three cups of coffee a day could help us live longer.

Researchers found that higher levels of coffee consumption were, in fact, linked to a reduced risk of death.

And that’s death from all causes – especially from digestive tract and circulatory diseases.

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