Following a Combination of Healthy Lifestyle Factors May Sharply Reduce Risk of Premature Death.

A number of studies have shown associations between individual lifestyle factors, such as smoking and diet, and risk of chronic diseases, including cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes and various cancers. Few studies, however, have looked at the bottom line -- how a combination of lifestyle factors might influence mortality. A new, large-scale study from researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) shows that women who followed a combination of healthy lifestyle factors -- not smoking, maintaining a healthy weight, regular physical activity and a healthy diet -- had a dramatically lower risk of dying from all causes during the two-and-a-half decades of the study. Furthermore, their risk reduction surpassed that from following any single healthy factor alone. It is the largest and longest-running study to directly estimate the impact of a combination of lifestyle factors on mortality. The study appears in advance online on Wednesday, September 17, 2008 in The British Medical Journal.