Older people who follow healthy diets may live longer, a study suggests.
Those who ate a low-fat diet that contained lots of fruit and vegetables lowered their risk of dying over 10 years.
The study compared the diets of 2,500 adults aged 70 to 79.
Those who ate a high fat diet rich in ice cream, cheese, and whole milk, had the highest risk of death.
The study showed that 12 extra people in every hundred survived over the ten years, if they ate healthily.
Participants were split into six different groups, according to how often they ate certain foods.
The groups were: healthy foods; high-fat diary products; meat, fried foods and alcohol; breakfast cereal; refined grains and sweets and desserts.
Those who had a "healthy foods" diet ate more low-fat dairy products, fruit, whole grains, poultry, fish, and vegetables.
People in this group had healthier lifestyles too; smoking less and being more active than other participants.
They also ate lower amounts of meat, fried foods, sweets, high-calorie drinks, and added fat.
The "high fat dairy products" cluster ate more ice cream, cheese and whole milk and yogurt. They ate less poultry, low fat dairy products, rice, and pasta.
Found that those who followed a predominantly high fat, dairy products diet had a higher death risk than those in the healthy food group.
No significant differences in death risk were seen between the "healthy foods" eaters and the "breakfast cereal" or "refined grains" eaters.
