20 TO 60

Four health changes can prolong life by 14 years

People who drink moderately, exercise, quit smoking and eat five servings of fruit and vegetables each day live on average 14 years longer than people who adopt none of these behaviors. The lifestyle change with the biggest benefit was ‘giving up smoking’, which led to an 80 per cent improvement in health, the study found. This was followed by ‘eating fruits and vegetables’. Moderate drinking and activity brought the same benefits, reported researchers from the University of Cambridge in PLoS Medicine.

60 AND ABOVE

Diet affects older men’s weight training success

Getting enough protein and moderate amounts of fat from food may help older men’s muscles respond better to weight training. Researchers from University of Jyvaskyla in Finland found that among 45 older men who went through a strength-training programme, those with more protein in their diets tended to have a greater short-term increase in testosterone levels right after their workouts. This hormonal response, in turn, was related to greater gains in muscle mass over 21 weeks of weight training, the researchers reported in International Journal of Sports Medicine.