Landmark 80/100
Fadnes et al. — Estimating impact of food choices on life expectancy
In plain English
By pooling effect estimates from meta-analyses and global burden-of-disease data, the authors estimated that switching at age 20 from a typical Western diet to an 'optimal' pattern (more legumes, whole grains, nuts; less red and processed meat) could add roughly 10 years of life expectancy. Switching at age 60 still added about 8 years.
Why it matters
Switch from Western to optimal diet at age 20: +10 years life expectancy.
Informs: Life Expectancy
Provenance
- Design
- Meta-analysis
- Sample size (n)
- —
- Peer-reviewed
- Yes
- Replications
- 1
- Funding
- Public / academic
- Funders
- Trond Mohn Foundation, Norwegian research grants
- Institutions
- University of Bergen
decades.plus score
A transparent 0–100 weighted sum across six components. Higher scores reflect bigger, cleaner, more replicated work.
Landmark 80/100
Caveats
Modelled, not an individual-level outcome. Assumes the underlying meta-analytic effect sizes are causal and additive — a strong assumption.
