Progress in research of nutrition and life expectancy.

Life expectancy is an important indicator to evaluate the social development of a country. Health and longevity can not only improve people’s life quality but also ensure them to have more time to pursue their life goal. A one-year increase in life expectancy during ‘China’s Twelfth Five-Year Economic and Social Development Plan’ period has been used as an indicator to evaluate whether the goal of improving people’s living standards continuously is met. Nutrition is one of the important factors affecting people’s health. Both malnutrition and overnutrition are risk factors for disease and death. Many studies of the relationship between nutrition and life expectancy have been conducted in the world, and the results of them are quite valuable for China to improve people’s life expectancy by targeted nutrition intervention strategy. This paper summarizes the progress in research of nutrition and life expectancy in the world. The concept of nutrition covers both nutrition intake and nutritional status; which are known to affect life expectancy and healthy life expectancy. The worldwide used indicators which reflect nutrition intake in nutrition research include calorie consumption per capita, protein consumption, fruit and vegetable intakes, and breastfeeding, etc. Regional food production has also been used in some studies. Nutritional status has also been reflected by anthropometric indicators such as body height, body weight, birth weight, body weight change, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, waist to hip ratio, and skin fold. In addition, some studies used composite indicators. For instance, one composite indicator used was built by using BMI and nutrition intake to reflect the nutritional status of the population. The measurement of malnutrition or overnutrition was usually according to the value of the anthropometric indicators. As the data came from different sources, the methods of nutrition and life expectancy research also varied. This paper further explains the content of these studies in three parts. First, the relationship between nutrition and life expectancy, including nutrition intake and life expectancy, body weight and life expectancy; second, the relationship between malnutrition and life expectancy; third, the relationship between overnutrition and life expectancy.