Low-carbohydrate diets, on the other hand, restrict carbohydrate consumption relative to the average diet.

Foods high in carbohydrates are limited, and replaced with foods containing a higher percentage of fat and protein, as well as low carbohydrate foods.

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The study, led by an international team of researchers from universities of Peking in China, Harvard and Tulane in the US, included 371,159 participants aged 50-71 years.

The participants were followed for 23.5 years, and 165,698 deaths were recorded.

Can Low-carb Diet Make You Live Longer?

The findings, published in the Journal of Internal Medicine, showed that adopting a low fat diet could slash the risk of death each year by up to 34 percent.

Meanwhile, low carb diets increased mortality risk up to 38 percent. People on keto-like diets were 28 percent more likely to die from any cause when compared to their high-carb peers.

“Higher mortality was observed for overall low-carbohydrate diet and unhealthy low-carbohydrate diet, but slightly lower risks for healthy low-carbohydrate diet,” the researchers wrote in the study.

Let’s Eat Right to Live Longer

“Our results support the importance of maintaining a healthy low-fat diet with less saturated fat in preventing all-cause and cause-specific mortality among middle-aged and older people,” they added.

Moreover, following a healthy low-fat diet was associated with significantly lower total mortality by 18 percent, cardiovascular mortality by 16 percent, and cancer mortality by 18 percent, respectively, versus the lowest.

Source: IANS