Healthy diet and exercise can keep many chronic diseases at bay

Healthy eating habits and a physically active lifestyle can prevent obesity and chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes and some cancers, a new research suggests.

Because diseases can take many years - sometimes decades - to develop, the best prevention is early prevention.

It is the position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics that primary prevention is the most effective and affordable method to prevent chronic disease, and that dietary intervention positively impacts health outcomes across the life span.

Registered dietitians and dietetic technicians, registered, are critical members of health care teams and are essential to delivering nutrition-focused preventive services in clinical and community settings, advocating for policy and programmatic initiatives and leading research in disease prevention and health promotion.

"Primary prevention" means preventing disease risk factors, according to the Academy position paper authors, and it is critical for health promotion and chronic disease prevention.

Nutrition and physical activity are essential elements of primary prevention at every stage of the life cycle.

Healthful eating habits and a physically active lifestyle are two of the most important ways to prevent chronic disease.

The findings are published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.