Diets high in good carbs like whole grains, fruit promote health later in life for women, study finds

Women who eat more fiber and high-quality carbohydrates in midlife are more likely to be cognitively and physically healthy in their old age, a large new study suggests.

Women who eat more fiber and high-quality carbohydrates in midlife are more likely to be cognitively and physically healthy in their old age, a large new study suggests.

While there’s a lot of evidence showing how diet affects longevity and the risk for chronic diseases, the new study focused on how what we eat influences quality of life as we age, according to the report published in JAMA Network Open.

Researchers at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University, analyzed diet data from 47,512 women who were participants of the long-running Nurses’ Health Study, one of the most respected and largest investigations into causes of chronic diseases in women. 

Every four years, between 1984 and 2016, the participants filled out a questionnaire that asked how frequently 130 foods had been consumed over the past year. The options ranged from never to six times a day.

The researchers centered on dietary data collected in 1984 and 1986, as this was when the women were at midlife.