Four common bad habits combined — smoking, drinking too much, inactivity and poor diet — can age you by 12 years, sobering new research suggests. The findings are from a study that tracked nearly 5,000 British adults for 20 years, and they highlight yet another reason to adopt a healthier lifestyle.

The risky behaviors were: smoking tobacco; downing more than three alcoholic drinks per day for men and more than two daily for women; getting less than two hours of physical activity per week; and eating fruits and vegetables fewer than three times daily.

Overall, 314 people studied had all four unhealthy behaviors. Among them, 91 died during the study, or 29 percent. Among the 387 healthiest people with none of the four habits, only 32 died, or about 8 percent.

These habits combined substantially increased the risk of death and made people who engaged in them seem 12 years older than people in the healthiest group, said lead researcher Elisabeth Kvaavik of the University of Oslo.

The study appears in Monday’s Archives of Internal Medicine.

The healthiest group included never-smokers and those who had quit; teetotalers, women who had fewer than two drinks daily and men who had fewer than three; those who got at least two hours of physical activity weekly; and those who ate fruits and vegetables at least three times daily.

“You don’t need to be extreme” to be in the healthy category, Kvaavik said. “These behaviors add up, so together it’s quite good. It should be possible for most people to manage to do it.”

For example, one carrot, one apple and a glass of orange juice would suffice for the fruit and vegetable cutoffs in the study, Kvaavik said, noting that the amounts are pretty modest and less strict than many guidelines.

The U.S. government generally recommends at least 4 cups of fruits or vegetables daily for adults, depending on age and activity level; and about 2 1/2 hours of exercise weekly.

Study participants were 4,886 British adults aged 18 and older, or 44 years old on average. They were randomly selected from participants in a separate nationwide British health survey. Study subjects were asked about various lifestyle habits only once, a potential limitation, but Kvaavik said those habits tend to be fairly stable in adulthood.

Death certificates were checked for the next 20 years. The most common causes of death included heart disease and cancer, both related to unhealthy lifestyles.

Kvaavik said her results are applicable to other westernized nations including the United States.

June Stevens, a University of North Carolina public health researcher, said the results are in line with previous studies that examined the combined effects of health-related habits on longevity.

The findings don’t mean that everyone who maintains a healthy lifestyle will live longer than those who don’t, but it will increase the odds, Stevens said.

Source: Yahoo

Apparently, it’s not as bad as you may think.. I found an article today over at abc where they write about a new study that claims that popcorn isn’t all that bad for you if you eat it right. Apparently popcorn can be very good for you if you drop all the salt and butter because it’s a good source of fiber and antioxidants.

In addition to the finding that cold, oat-based cereals provide the best source of morning milk-bowl-spoon-based antioxidants, the researchers found that popcorn provides more of the dietary fiber and antioxidants than any other snack food, according to findings presented at the meeting of the American Chemical Society.

“It’s a whole grain, people don’t think of it that way but it is,” said Keith-Thomas Ayoob, an associate professor of pediatrics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York in response to the study’s findings. “It’s a different form of corn, but it’s definitely a whole grain.”

I don’t know about you all, but I hardly ever eat popcorn. If I ever happen to find a bowl with popcorn in front of me, I prefer to eat it without all the butter and salt anyways.

“The more processed the grain is, you’re losing nutrients and antioxidants,” he said. “The closer you can get to the plant, the better off you are.”

In the case of popcorn, he explained, the antioxidants are protected from the sun in the drying process, and the corn loses only a little bit of them when it is popped. Additionally, through the whole process, the fiber provided by the whole grain is not removed.

“If you can air-pop your popcorn and then add a minimal amount of salt, you’d have the best popcorn,” Vinson said.

But while popcorn may have the potential to be a healthy addition to the diet, there are some obstacles.

“Eating plain popcorn is like eating cardboard, and therein lies the problem,” said Andrew F. Smith, author of “Popped Culture: A Social History of Popcorn in America.”

While popcorn could be healthy, he said, “It isn’t, because most of us, including myself, love salt, love butter, and love everything else about it. Most people don’t make it right.”

While he doesn’t feel popcorn presents a healthy snack option, Smith expressed disappointment that popcorn manufacturers haven’t created a healthy, yet tasty version of their snack.

“They haven’t done so. I wish they could. I like popcorn,” he said.

Dr. David L. Katz, director of the Prevention Research Center at Yale University School of Medicine, confirmed Smith’s sentiments.

“The real issue with popcorn is what gets added to it, and frankly that’s often an issue with foods in the modern food supply,” he said. “If you add a lot of butter and salt to popcorn, it merely becomes the delivery vehicle for a lot of bad stuff.”

So, who’s gonna grab some popcorn this weekend without all the extra butter and salt? ;)