Study shows small changes add up to big improvement in health

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/11/29/2522206/study-shows-small-changes-add.html

Posted on Tuesday, 11.29.11

By Sheah Rarback
srarback@hotmail.com

It’s a familiar message from nutrition professionals: The road to a healthier lifestyle is paved with a series of small changes. It seems a no-brainer that this would be a good strategy, but until a recent article in the British Journal of Nutrition, it wasn’t clear how beneficial each change is when added to previous modifications.

The research behind the article looked at modifiable lifestyle factors that decrease the risk for heart disease and Type 2 diabetes. These include eating more than five servings of fruits and vegetables a day, eating fewer than two servings of meat a day, never smoking, participating in four hours of physical activity a week, consuming two to six alcoholic drinks a week (yes, you read that correctly) and watching fewer than two hours of TV a day.

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Now the good news. With each additional lifestyle change, the risk of heart disease and Type 2 diabetes decreased 31 percent on average. Individuals with three healthy lifestyle behaviors had a 46 percent lower risk when compared to those who had none or one. Subjects with five or six healthy lifestyle behaviors had a 70 percent lower risk.

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