Data were taken from the Nurses’ Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (a total of 105,015 participants). Researchers assessed associations between healthy aging and adherence to the following 8 dietary patterns:

Alternative Healthy Eating Index (AHEI)^[1]
Alternative Mediterranean Index (aMED)
Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH)
Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay (MIND)
Healthful plant-based diet (hPDI)^[2]
Planetary Health Diet Index (PHDI)^[3]
Reverse empirically inflammatory dietary pattern (rEDIP)^[4]
Reverse empirical dietary index for hyperinsulinemia (rEDIH)^[5]

The association between ultraprocessed food consumption and healthy aging was also assessed.

Dietary factors of dietary patterns

Higher scores indicate higher adherence to a dietary pattern. Red: lower points or negative weights are assigned to higher intakes of this dietary factor. Green: higher points or positive weights are assigned to higher intakes of this dietary factor. Gray: higher points or positive weights are assigned to a moderate intake of this dietary factor.

Healthy aging was defined as surviving to the age of 70 without the presence of chronic diseases and impairments in cognitive, physical, and mental health. The researchers also considered the 11 leading causes of death in the U.S. during their analysis.

After a follow-up of up to 30 years, higher adherence, as opposed to the lowest adherence, to all dietary patterns was associated with greater odds of healthy aging. The strength of the associations were as follows:

AHEI (+86%)
rEDIH (+80%)
aMED (+70%)
DASH (+69%)
PHDI (+68%)
MIND (+60%)
rEDIP (+58%)
hPDI (+45%)

Additionally, higher ultraprocessed food intake was associated with 32% lower odds of healthy aging.

The best diets for healthy aging Original paper