Eating cheese and having an open fire are factors to living a long life, study shows
19 February 2025, 15:53
Cheese and using an open fire can suggest a longer life - while being 'unenthusiastic' can shorten it.
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A study at the University of Oxford has uncovered surprising factors linked to living longer.
The study found 25 key lifestyle and environmental differences lead to increased, or decreased, life expectancy.
Positive factors include cheese intake, using an open fire, and living with a partner.
However, the study found that having an open fire is simply linked to financial status. The lead scientist urged that open fires remain to be bad for lung health.
Cheese is also linked to being better-off - rather than the dairy being a factor in good health.
The study found that there is no suggestion that those who consumed alcohol, salt, or meat could have a shorter life.
Negative factors include feeling fed-up often, being unemployed, living in a flat, napping too much, or smoking.
The most surprising negative factor: simply being unenthusiastic.
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Researched said they has a "hunch" that multiple factors were linked to being financially stable, rather then being good for your health or wellbeing.
Cornelia van Duijn, senior author of the study and St Cross professor of epidemiology at Oxford Population Heath, said to The Telegraph: “We don’t think open fires are healthy. For lung disease it’s the opposite. It’s probably, more likely your status.”
The researchers used data from some half a million UK Biobank participants to discover the affect of 164 environmental factors.
Duijn and her team found that environmental and lifestyle factors affect life expectancy ten times more than genetic factors.
Professor Bryan Williams, chief scientific and medical officer at British Heart Foundation, said: “Your income, postcode and background shouldn’t determine your chances of living a long and healthy life. But this pioneering study reinforces that this is the reality for far too many people.”
He said "how great the opportunity is" to learn from this study.
23 out of 25 of the factors are "modifiable" - you can do something about it.
Negative Factors:
- Feeling fed-up often
- Deprivation
- Being shorter aged 10
- Being fatter aged 10
- Living in a flat
- Maternal smoking around birth
- Asian ethnicity
- Financial difficulties in the last two years
- Unenthusiasm
- Napping too much
- Sleeping more than nine hours a day
- History of smoking
Positive Factors
- Cheese intake
- Employment
- Using open fire of heating
- Ease of tanning skin
- Gym use
- Living with partner
- Level of household income
- Physical activity
- Level of education
The research was published in the journal Nature Ageing.
