Fruit and Vegetable Consumption and Incident Prefrailty and Frailty in Community-Dwelling Older People: The English Longitudinal Study of Ageing

Abstract

Background: There is limited evidence in the literature regarding associations between fruit and vegetable consumption and risk of frailty. Objective: To examine associations between fruit and vegetable consumption and risk of incident frailty and incident prefrailty/frailty. Design: A prospective panel study. Setting and Subjects: 2634 non-frail community-dwelling men and women aged 60 years or older from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA). Methods: Fruit and vegetable consumption/day was measured using a self-completion questionnaire at baseline. Frailty status was measured at baseline and follow-up was based on modified frailty phenotype criteria. Four-year incident frailty was examined among 2634 robust or prefrail participants, and incident prefrailty/frailty was measured among 1577 robust participants. Results: Multivariable logistic regression models adjusted for age, gender, and other confounders showed that fruit and vegetable consumption was not associated with incident frailty risks among robust or prefrail participants. However, robust participants consuming 5–7.5 portions of 80 g per day (odds ratio (OR) = 0.56, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.37–0.85, p < 0.01) and 7.5–10 portions per day (OR = 0.46, 95%CI = 0.27–0.77, p < 0.01) had significantly lower risk of incident prefrailty/frailty compared with those consuming 0–2.5 portions/day, whereas those consuming 10 or more portions/day did not (OR = 1.10, 95%CI = 0.54–2.26, p = 0.79). Analysis repeated with fruit and vegetable separately showed overall similar results. Conclusions: Robust older adults without frailty who eat current U.K. government recommendations for fruit and vegetable consumption (5–10 portions/day) had significantly reduced risks of incident prefrailty/frailty compared with those who only eat small amount (0–2.5 portions/day). Older people can be advised that eating sufficient amounts of fruit and vegetable may be beneficial for frailty prevention.

Nutrition and Frailty: Opportunities for Prevention and Treatment

“…Recent studies provide confirmatory evidence, based on cross-sectional data from mainland China [ 54 ], and longitudinal data from the US [ 55 ] and UK [ 56 ]. For example, in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA), after adjustment for age, sex, smoking, alcohol use, wealth, education, living alone, cognition, depressed mood, diabetes, and hyperlipidaemia, older adults without frailty at baseline who had a daily consumption of 5–10 portions of fruit and vegetables, had a lower risk of incident pre-frailty or frailty when followed-up over four years, although there were no differences among older adults who had very high fruit and vegetable consumption (>10 portions/d) [ 56 ].…”

Mediterranean diet associated with lower frailty risk: a large cohort study of 21,643 women admitted to hospitals

“…Plant-based diets are found to be protective against frailty risk [26]. Besides, high consumption of fruits and vegetables, the main sources of antioxidants [27], has been associated with lower risk of frailty [28,29]. In addition, some previous epidemiological studies reported a protective association of a Mediterraneantype diet rather than one food group alone with risk of frailty [30], indicating the potential interactive or additive action between "healthy foods" that may prevent the pathogenesis of frailty.…”

Novel approaches to optimize nutrition in the elderly patients

“…Регулярное употребление овощей и фруктов (оптимально 5 порций, но не менее 2 порций в день) снижает риск развития СА [33,34]. Этот эффект может быть обусловлен витаминами и фитонутриентами, а также пищевыми волокнами, необходимыми для поддержания нормальной кишечной микробиоты.…”