Liking 6 specific foods may lower your risk of dying: study

Can playing favorites keep you alive?We’re always talking about how the food we’re actually putting in our mouths affects our health.New research suggests that simply having food preferences could make a difference, too.Researchers pinpointed six particular foods and ingredients linked to a longer life — and five associated with shorter lives.More than 177,000 people from across the UK answered questions about their food preferences.Rather than using the typical method of examining diets — asking participants to recall what they ate in recent days or weeks — they simply asked people what they liked.Researchers say this is a more reliable way of determining what people eat over time.

Preferences tend to stay the same, while what people actually eat can vary.After all, two of the biggest factors in deciding what to eat are often what you can afford and what’s available, both of which change frequently.But if you didn’t have to worry about those things, what would you eat? Researchers say what you like is the next most important factor in determining what you actually end up munching on.

And if you don’t like a food’s appearance, smell, texture or taste, you’re simply less likely to eat it.After asking participants about their food favorites, researchers checked to see who was still alive more than three years later.Here’s what they found.A few foods were associated with a higher risk of death.

Soda had the strongest association, with a 38% higher risk of death.Diet sodas came close behind, with a 23% higher risk.A known health concern, soda has been associated with obesity and blood sugar regulation issues.

It may also affect how the body absorbs other nutrients.Soda was followed by two more drinks: tea with sugar associated with a 22% higher risk of death, and and whole milk, associated with an 18% higher risk.Both can deliver more calories than unsweetened tea or skim milk options, depending on how much is consumed.Corn flakes were the fin...