Healthy Eating Index and Mortality in a Nationally Representative Elderly Cohort

Abstract

joyment in the present analyses. But greater enjoyment was associated with a 28% lower risk of death even after these factors, as well as depression and health behaviors, had been taken into account. Other factors may be responsible for the remaining association between enjoyment and survival. It may be caused by unmeasured confounding factors such as other pre-existing illnesses. Only 3 health behaviors were assessed, and other aspects such as diet may be relevant. In addition, direct links with health outcomes are plausible, since biological responses such as reduced cortisol output in everyday life and attenuated cardiovascular and inflammatory responses to stress are related to positive well-being. 7 The results of this study do not establish that enjoyment of life is causally related to survival. Enjoyment may be a marker of underlying health-related biological, behavioral, or dispositional factors that are responsible for the association. Nonetheless, our findings show that the link between enjoyment and survival at older ages is not fully accounted for by demographic factors or major preexisting illnesses. These results highlight the importance of positive well-being in older adults and suggest that efforts to improve enjoyment of life, as well to manage and prevent disease, could have beneficial effects on life expectancy.

Nutrition and healthy ageing: the key ingredients

“…In several studies, adherence to the HEI has been associated with lower chronic disease risk (45)(46)(47) , and whereas adherence to the HEI-1995 was associated with a 30% reduction in mortality risk in males, this relationship was not apparent in females (48) . For those aged 65+ years, a higher HEI-1995 score was associated with lower overall and cardiovascular mortality irrespective of gender (49) . The Recommended Food Score developed by Kant et al (50) is a composite measure based on the sum of the number of foods recommended by the current dietary guidelines (fruit, vegetables, whole grains, low-fat dairy and lean meats and poultry) that were reported to be consumed at least once weekly and higher scores were associated with lower risk of all-cause mortality (28 and 18% lower risk in men and women, respectively) (50,51) .…”

Association between inflammatory potential of diet and mortality among women in the Swedish Mammography Cohort

“…Studies have been conducted examining various dietary patterns and indices in relation to mortality [60][61][62]. In the NHANES III cohort study, the HEI was found to be inversely associated with overall and CVD mortality [61].…”

“…Studies have been conducted examining various dietary patterns and indices in relation to mortality [60][61][62]. In the NHANES III cohort study, the HEI was found to be inversely associated with overall and CVD mortality [61]. In a study conducted in the National Institutes of Health-AARP Diet and Health Study, the Mediterranean diet score was associated with reduced all-cause and cause-specific mortality [60], while another report from the National Institutes of Health-AARP Diet and Health Study showed various indices [HEI-2010, the Alternative Healthy Eating Index-2010 (AHEI-2010), the alternate Mediterranean Diet (aMED), and Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH)] to be protective against all-cause mortality, CVD, and cancer mortality [63].…”

“…In contrast, results have been equivocal for factors related to metabolic syndrome and thereby for cardiovascular outcomes as well [25,26,29]. This makes sense given the fact that cardiovascular outcomes are strongly determined by other, nondietary factors, most notably physical activity [60,61].…”

Adherence to the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the Relationship to Adiposity in Young Women

“…[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] One aspect of health linked to dietary choice is excess body fat. Because of this, the current health goals for Americans (Healthy People 2020) focus on improving both diet quality and weight management.…”