Jul 02, 2015 03:27 PM EDT By Staff Reporter, UniversityHerald Reporter

New research suggests that a healthy diet may reduce a low-income individual's mortality risk.

Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center found that among a population of low-income individuals living in the Southeastern U.S., eating healthy reduced the risk of dying from heart disease, stroke, cancer or other diseases by 20 percent.

"This is the first study to our knowledge reporting this association in a low-income population that largely comprises African-Americans," Wei Zheng, lead author of the study, said in a statement. "These findings present direct evidence that dietary modification may influence disease prevention in this underserved population."

For the study, researchers analyzed data from nearly 80,000 adults between the ages 40 and 49 years old, mostly through community health centers serving low-income populations in 12 Southeastern states. More than half of the participants had an annual household income of less than $15,000 and 65 percent were African-American.

At the time of recruitment, participants responded to a detailed food frequency questionnaire which noted the types and amounts of foods in their usual diet. For this follow-up study the investigators used the federal government's Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA), and the Healthy Eating Index (HEI) to assess the healthfulness of the participants' diets.

Over a mean period of 6.2 years, 6,906 participants died -2,244 from cardiovascular disease, 1,794 from cancer and 2,550 from other diseases.  They found that participants who ate the healthiest diet had an approximately 20 percent lower risk of death from those diseases than those with the least healthy diet.

Previous studies have suggested that African-American and low-socioeconomic adults having limited access to supermarkets and healthy foods tend to have lower quality diets.

The findings are detailed in the journal PLOS Medicine.

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