Poor Diet Quality Tied to Frailty in Older Adults

 

A recent study suggests that a poor-quality diet may increase the chances of weakness in older people.

Researchers followed 2,154 older adults in the United States for four years. At the beginning of the study, the adults were between the ages of 70 and 81. Researchers placed each person into one of two groups – “robust¹” or “pre-frail².” Those who did not appear to have any mental problems or issues with physical frailty³ were considered “robust.” Those who only had one or two symptoms of frailty were called “pre-frail."

Two hundred seventy-seven of those who took part in the study became frail. Of the 1,020 who started out in robust condition, 629 either became frail or developed pre-frailty.

People in the study had to have at least three of five health issues to be considered frail. Those five issues were:

unintentional weight loss of more than 5% of their body weight in the past 12 months

weak or no hand strength

regular daytime tiredness

slow walking speed

and physical inactivity.

The researchers found that people with poor quality diets were almost two times as likely to become frail compared to those with high-quality diets. A medium-quality diet was linked to a 40 percent higher risk of frailty.

Researcher Linda Milou Hengeveld was the lead writer of the study. In an email, she told Reuters the researchers believed that protein intake⁴ might also be important to reduce frailty risk. She added that “sufficient protein intake is important to slow down the loss of muscle mass and strength that occurs with aging.”

But that is not what the study found.

Lower vegetable protein intake was linked with a higher risk of “robust” people developing “pre-frailty.” However, it did not appear to influence whether those people developed frailty. There was no meaningful difference in frailty risk based on total protein intake, animal protein intake or total calories in a person’s diet.

The study was published in the Journal⁵ of the American Geriatrics Society. It found that earlier research linked eating animal protein to a lower risk of frailty. But, it is possible the current study got different results because it examined protein based on the total amount eaten daily. Other studies looked at protein based on the percentage of total calories eaten.

One limitation⁶ of the study is that it depended on older people to correctly remember and report on their eating habits over the year before. The researchers noted⁷ that this might not provide a realistic report of how they ate.

Another issue is that it is impossible to know whether a poor diet might have caused frailty or if people started eating poorly after they became frail.

Kieran Reid is a scientist at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University in Boston. He says following dietary suggestions may help older adults lower their risk of severe frailty.

U.S. dietary guidelines⁸ urge people to eat whole fruits, fresh vegetables, whole grains, low-fat milk and dairy⁹ products and protein from many sources. The guidelines also advise against eating foods that contain a lot of salt, saturated¹⁰ fat and sugar.

I’m Jonathan Evans.

Words in This Story

robust –adj. strong and healthy

frail –adj. having less than the normal amount of strength, easily damaged

symptom –n. a change in the body mind that shows disease¹¹ is present

intake –n. the amount of food or drink that is taken into you body

calories –n. a measure of heat used to describe the amount of energy a food or drink will produce in the human body

1 robust   

adj.强壮的，强健的，粗野的，需要体力的，浓的

参考例句：

• She is too tall and robust.她个子太高，身体太壮。
• China wants to keep growth robust to reduce poverty and avoid job losses,AP commented.美联社评论道，中国希望保持经济强势增长，以减少贫困和失业状况。

2 frail   

adj.身体虚弱的；易损坏的

参考例句：

• Mrs. Warner is already 96 and too frail to live by herself.华纳太太已经九十六岁了，身体虚弱，不便独居。
• She lay in bed looking particularly frail.她躺在床上，看上去特别虚弱。

3 frailty   

n.脆弱；意志薄弱

参考例句：

• Despite increasing physical frailty,he continued to write stories.尽管身体越来越虛弱，他仍然继续写小说。
• He paused and suddenly all the frailty and fatigue showed.他顿住了，虚弱与疲惫一下子显露出来。

4 intake   

n.吸入，纳入；进气口，入口

参考例句：

• Reduce your salt intake.减少盐的摄入量。
• There was a horrified intake of breath from every child.所有的孩子都害怕地倒抽了一口凉气。

5 journal   

n.日志，日记；议事录；日记帐；杂志，定期刊物

参考例句：

• He kept a journal during his visit to Japan.他在访问日本期间坚持记日记。
• He got a job as editor of a trade journal.他找到了一份当商业杂志编辑的工作。

6 limitation   

n.限制；局限

参考例句：

• I am willing to accept certain limitation on my freedom.我愿意接受对我自由的某些限制。
• We shall continue to work for the limitation of nuclear arms.我们将继续为限制核子武器而努力。

7 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

8 guidelines   

n.指导方针，准则

参考例句：

• The government has drawn up guidelines on the treatment of the mentally ill. 政府制订了对待精神病人的指导方针。
• Planners seem a little uncomfortable with the current government guidelines. 规划师似乎不太接受现行的政府指道方针。

9 dairy   

n.牛奶场，乳品店；adj.乳制品的

参考例句：

• The yogurt sold by this dairy is delicious.这家乳品店出售的酸奶非常好喝。
• He kept a few dairy cows.他养了几头奶牛。

10 saturated   

a.饱和的，充满的

参考例句：

• The continuous rain had saturated the soil. 连绵不断的雨把土地淋了个透。
• a saturated solution of sodium chloride 氯化钠饱和溶液

11 disease   

n.疾病，弊端

参考例句：

• The doctors are trying to stamp out the disease.医生正在尽力消灭这种疾病。
• He fought against the disease for a long time.他同疾病做了长时间的斗争。