California Study

California Seventh-day Adventists live up to 10 years longer than their non-Adventist neighbors, according to a study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine. Vegetarian Adventists lived the longest, the study showed. The average life expectancy for a nonvegetarian Adventist man is 8L2 years and 83.9 years for a nonvegetarian Adventist woman. A vegetarian Adventist man lives to an average age of 83.3 years, while a vegetarian Adventist woman lives 85.7 years.

Those compare to an average life expectancy of 73.9 years for male non-Adventist Californians and 79.5 years for female non-Adventist Californians.

Researchers tracked subjects between 1976 and 1988. Results only recently have come to light because it took many years for researchers to complete analysis of the large amount of data produced during the course of the study, university spokesman Larry Kidder said.

Fraser said the Adventist community provided an ideal study group because Adventists do not smoke or drink. Both habits have been linked to significant health problems. The study looked at five health factors and behaviors believed to influence longevity.

They were a vegetarian diet, exercising regularly, not having smoked in their lifetime, not having an excessive amount of body fat and eating nuts five or more times a week. The more of the positive factors a person exhibited, the longer he or she seemed to live.

“Every little bit helps”, Fraser said, the principal investigator for the study. “Each of these five factors appear to equate to 1.5 to 2.5 extra years of life.”

To enjoy the maximum benefit, people would have to change their ways around age 30, researchers said. But health benefits would be likely if new habits began at any point. Diet guru Robert Pritikin said Monday that the research results make perfect sense to him. The famous Pritikin diet revolves around a plant-based, low-fat diet.