Dietary patterns as predictors of successful ageing

• Published in: The Journal of nutrition, health & aging health & aging, 2014-03, Vol.18 (3), p.221-227
• Main Authors: Hodge, Allison M, O’Dea, K, English, D. R, Giles, G. G, Flicker, L
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aged; Aging; Aging - physiology; anthropometric measurements; Biological and medical sciences; biscuits; body size; cakes; Cancer; Cohort analysis; Cohort Studies; Collaboration; Cooking; Councils; Diabetes; Diet; Diet - statistics & numerical data; eating habits; Epidemiology; Factor Analysis, Statistical; Feeding Behavior; Feeding. Feeding behavior; Female; Food; food frequency questionnaires; fried foods; Fruit; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Geriatrics/Gerontology; Humans; legumes; Life Style; lifestyle; Logistic Models; Male; margarine; Meat; medical history; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; men; Mental health; Middle Aged; Missing data; Neurosciences; Nutrition; Nutrition research; Olive oil; pastries; Primary Care Medicine; Prospective Studies; puddings; Quality of Life Research; Questionnaires; regression analysis; Risk Factors; salads; Surveys and Questionnaires; tea; Vegetables; Vertebrates: anatomy and physiology, studies on body, several organs or systems; Victoria - epidemiology; white bread; women
• ISSN: 1279-7707; 1760-4788
• DOI: 10.1007/s12603-013-0405-0

OBJECTIVES: To examine associations between dietary patterns identified by factor analysis, and successful ageing. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study with diet measured in 1990-4, and successful ageing in 2003-7. Ordered logistic regression with outcome determined as dead/usual ageing/successful ageing was used to examine associations with quintile groups of dietary factor scores. PARTICIPANTS: Men and women (n=6308), without history of major illness at baseline, and aged >70 years at follow-up, or who had died before follow-up but would have been aged >70 at the commencement of follow-up, from the Melbourne Collaborative Cohort Study. MEASUREMENTS: Frequencies of intake of 121 foods at baseline were collected in a food frequency questionnaire. Anthropometry and other health and lifestyle data were collected. At follow-up, questionnaire data relating to mental health, physical function and medical history were used to define successful ageing. RESULTS: Four dietary factors were identified, characterized by higher loadings for (1) vegetables; (2) fruit, (3) feta, legumes, salad, olive oil, and inverse loadings for tea, margarine, cake, sweet biscuits and puddings; (4) meat, white bread, savoury pastry dishes and fried foods. In models excluding body size, the second factor ‘Fruit’ was positively associated with successful ageing (OR in top 20% vs lowest 20% of score 1.31, 95%CI (1.05–1.63), p trend across quintile groups 0.001); while the fourth factor ‘Meat/fatty foods’ was inversely associated (OR in top 20% vs lowest 20% of score 0.69, 95%CI (0.55–0.86), p trend across quintile groups 0.001). Factors 1 and 3 did not show significant associations with successful ageing. The association for ‘Fruit’ was little altered after adjustment for body size, while for ‘Meat/fatty foods’ the association was somewhat attenuated. CONCLUSION: A dietary pattern including plenty of fruit while limiting meat and fried foods may improve the likelihood of ageing successfully.