Frequency of Dietary Intake and Physical Activity in Older Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Background: Evidence shows that diet is associated with physical activity. However, there has been a lack of studies addressing it in a population of older adults. Therefore, the main purpose of this study was to explore associations between various frequencies of dietary intake and physical activity in older adults. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, the participants were 810 older adults aged ≥85. Frequency of dietary intake and the level of physical activity were assessed using the Elderly Diet Index score and International Physical Activity questionnaire. Mutual associations were examined using generalized estimating equations with a logistic regression model. Results: ”Optimal” intake of fish and seafood (OR (odds ratio) = 1.40; 95% CI (95 percent confidence interval) 1.01 to 2.00), fruits (OR = 2.10; 95% CI 1.45 to 3.02), legumes (OR = 1.73; 95% CI 1.19 to 2.50), olive oil (OR = 1.83; 95% CI 1.09 to 3.08) and bread (OR = 4.62; 95% CI 3.05 to 6.99) and the total Elderly Diet Index score (OR = 4.99; 95% CI 3.20 to 7.70) were associated with ”sufficient” physical activity. When all dietary components were entered simultaneously into the model, ”optimal” intakes of meat (OR = 1.73; 95% CI 1.10 to 2.71), fish and seafood (OR = 2.26; 95% CI 1.46 to 3.51), cereals (OR = 1.75; 95% CI 1.02 to 3.25), fruits (OR = 1.52; 95% CI 1.02 to 2.26), legumes (OR = 1.48; 95% CI 1.10 to 1.93), and bread (OR = 5.14; 95% CI 3.24 to 8.15) were associated with ”sufficient” physical activity. Conclusions: Our study shows that the total Elderly Diet Index score is the strongest predictor associated with ”sufficient” physical activity in a population of older adults. Thus, policies aiming to improve overall diet in order to achieve higher levels of physical activity are warranted.

The Relationship Between the Healthy Diet Index, Chronic Diseases, Obesity and Lifestyle Risk Factors Among Adults in Kaunas City, Lithuania

“…Having been diagnosed with chronic diseases was also related to a weak diet in the univariate analysis; however, this association became non-significant after adjusting for the covariates. Similar results were also obtained by other researchers ( 53 ), who showed that dietary intakes could result in different health outcomes when other covariates were involved. This indicates that a holistic approach should be taken when considering the prevention of different health risk factors due to interaction between each of them, which creates an even more significant synergistic risk.…”

“…Another significant inverse association was found between weak diet and PA. Respondents with weak dietary habits were the ones to be the least physically active and not achieving the 150 min/week of PA recommended by the WHO. This association was also found to be the same in other studies ( 8 , 48 , 52 , 53 ) where higher adherence to a healthy diet was associated with higher PA. Children and adolescents with higher levels of PA were found to consume more healthy foods and to like juice, water, milk, dairy products, fruit, and vegetables compared to those with lower PA levels ( 54 ). A cross-sectional study carried by Yang et al ( 55 ) found that participants with a lower BMI and higher PA levels had lower scores in fast food consumption.…”

“…Although food intake ratio/food frequency questionnaires are usually used in these types of studies ( 8 , 53 , 54 ), the respondents had to self-evaluate and/or recall the ratio of certain food groups consumed; the levels of perceived stress, PA and sedentary behavior were also self-reported. This could result in HDI score classification errors and could misrepresent the calculated associations between the HDI score, chronic diseases, obesity and lifestyle risk factors.…”

“…Future study, accounting for vigorous-intensity PA of at least 75 min per week, could also be considered. Due to the nature of this study, it is quite complicated to determine if the HDI score affected other various researched outcomes or vice versa, as implicated in another similar study ( 53 ).…”

Are Older Adults without a Healthy Diet Less Physically Active and More Sedentary?

“…Therefore, we used both objective and subjective measures to collect data on older adults’ awareness of and actual physically active and sedentary lifestyles. In addition, although several studies examined the association between physical activity and dietary behavior [12,13], few compared the sedentary behavior patterns of older adults with and without a healthy dietary behavior [14]. We hypothesized that older adults without a healthy diet may engage in less physical activity and more sedentary time than those with a healthy diet.…”