A large Swedish study notes that what you eat now could shape the number of chronic diseases you face later, highlighting the power of a healthy diet to slow down multiple diseases at an advanced age.
Study: Food modes and accelerated multimorbidity in the elderly. Image credit: Luigi Giordano / Shutterstock
In a recent article published in the journal Aging of natureThe researchers studied the association between joining four different food models and multimorbidity. They found that the rest of certain eating habits, such as the Mediterranean diet, was associated with a slower increase in the burden of chronic diseases. On the other hand, higher scores on the Empirical food inflammatory index (EDII), indicating diets rich in pro-inflammatory food, were linked to a faster accumulation of diseases.
In particular, in certain secondary analyzes, higher membership in the alternative Mediterranean diet (AMED) has been unexpectedly associated with a faster rate of accumulation of musculoskeletal diseases. However, it was not a main result, and clinical significance remains uncertain.
Background
Aging is a significant risk factor to develop chronic diseases, in particular cardiovascular and neurodegenerative conditions. In high -income countries, individuals over 70 experiences a much greater burden of the disease than young adults. Consequently, the promotion of healthy aging, allowing the elderly to live a longer and healthier life, even with chronic diseases, has become a public health priority.
Multimorbidity, defined as having two chronic or more conditions, is an increasingly important objective in health research. Instead of emphasizing individual diseases, it highlights the overall burden suffered by the person. Researchers often classify multimorbidity by organ systems, such as cardiovascular, neuropsychiatric and musculoskeletal.
Among the lifestyle factors, the diet plays a crucial role in the development and prevention of chronic diseases. Rather than watching unique foods or nutrients, examining global food models, provides a better understanding of long -term health effects due to the complex interactions between food components.
Some studies have shown that healthy diets such as the alternative index of healthy food (AHEI) are linked to lower multimorbidity, while unhealthy diets like the Western diet are linked to a higher risk. However, previous research has been limited by close concentration, short periods of follow -up or transversal conceptions.
This study aimed to assess the long -term respect for several diets influences the rate of accumulation of chronic diseases in the elderly.
About the study
This longitudinal study used data from a Swedish cohort which included adults living in the community aged 60 and over. Participants were evaluated at regular intervals over 15 years, with food data collected during the first three waves and multimorbidity followed on the six waves.
From an initial sample of 3,363, the researchers analyzed the data of 2,473 people after excluding people with dietary dietary information or missing keys.
Food intake has been measured via food frequency questionnaires and membership of four diets, the Empirical Food Inflammatory Index (EDII), AHEI, the alternative Mediterranean diet (Amed) and the Spirit (Mediterranean-Dash intervention for neurodegenerative delay), has been calculated. Multimorbidity has been defined as the number of chronic diseases and grouped by organ system (musculoskeletal, cardiovascular and neuropsychiatric).
Chronic conditions have been diagnosed using clinical assessments and national registry data. Statistical analyzes have used linear mixed models to examine how food adhesion affected the rate of accumulation of disease over time, adapting to potential confusion factors. Multiple sensitivity analyzes have been carried out to test the robustness of the results. The associations were also analyzed using the modeling of the trajectory to explore the differences in disease accumulation of disease between the subgroups.
Key conclusions
The study followed 2,473 Swedish elderly people with an average age of 71.5 years over 15 years. Most participants had a multimorbidity at the start, and healthier food models such as Amed, Ahei and Mind were linked to a slower increase in the total number of chronic diseases, while a pro-inflammatory diet (EDII) was associated with faster accumulation.
For example, those who have the highest adhesion to the spirit and the AHEI regimes have accumulated about two chronic conditions less over 15 years compared to those with the lowest membership. These patterns were particularly obvious for cardiovascular and neuropsychiatric conditions, but no significant association was observed for musculoskeletal diseases to the other of the diets.
Sexual and age differences have emerged: the advantages of a healthy food for cardiovascular health were more pronounced in women, but these sexual differences were not statistically significant after having corrected multiple comparisons. Among participants over 78, the regimes of the Spirit and the AHEI showed stronger associations with a reduction in the accumulation of neuropsychiatric diseases.
Sensitivity analyzes supported these results. However, when participants with multimorbidity at the start were excluded, associations of certain food models, including the spirit and Amed, were weakened and sometimes lost statistical meaning.
Food support has also influenced the probability of following faster or slower disease trajectories. For example, higher EDII membership has increased the chances of being in faster accumulation groups. The associations for Amed with cardiometabolic multimorbidity were lower than for AHEI or the spirit and were not statistically significant in certain analyzes.
Overall, AHEI has generally shown the strongest protection association between food models.
Mind: reference range: 2–12; 1 SD = 1.74. AHEI: reference range: 29.9–91.7; 1 SD = 9.82. Amed: reference range: 0–9; 1 SD = 1.76. EDII: reference range: −1,36 to 2.70; 1 SD = 0.30. Model: linear mixed model with interception and random slope, adjusted by age (years), sex (man or woman), life arrangements (only or not), previous profession (manual or non-manual), education (elementary, high school or university), smoking (never, smoked, current or unknown smoker), physical activity (KCE-Dishancing, Fitness-Insobilization or inadequacy) and known to health (KCE-Dack-Inhanging-Remoss-Remhandang−1). Data is presented as the average number of chronic diseases ± 95% CIS (shaded area).
Conclusions
This study revealed that long -term membership of healthy food models, in particular AMED, AHEI and Spirit, was linked to a slower accumulation of chronic diseases, in particular cardiovascular and neuropsychiatric conditions in the elderly. On the other hand, a pro-inflammatory diet has been associated with a faster accumulation of diseases.
Some associations were stronger in the older women and participants, although none of these interactions have remained statistically significant after correction for multiple comparisons.
The protective effects of the diet can be explained by reduced inflammation, a key factor in diseases related to aging. Study forces include 15 -year follow -up, repeated food assessments and robust sensitivity analyzes.
The limitations involve dependence on self-depressed food data, the lack of information on the pre-bass diet, the opposite causal potential and the urban and very educated sample of the study, which limits generalization. Above all, the results highlight the specificity of the organic system of the effects of food, without any proof of benefit from musculoskeletal multimorbidity.
