Healthy long-term dietary patterns linked to healthy aging

A study presented at NUTRITION 2024, the annual meeting of the American Society for Nutrition, held June 29–July 2 in Chicago, finds that longer-term adherence to healthy dietary patterns is associated with a greater chance of healthy aging.

Anne-Julie Tessier, RD, Ph.D., of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, and colleagues examined adherence to eight dietary patterns every four years using a validated food frequency questionnaire. This established the association between long-term adherence and healthy aging, defined as reaching age 70 or older and maintaining good self-reported cognitive function, physical function, and mental health while remaining free of chronic disease.

A total of 9,837 (9.2 percent) of participants achieved healthy aging over 30 years of follow-up. The researchers observed significant associations for higher adherence to all dietary patterns with a greater likelihood of healthy aging. Comparing the highest to the lowest quintile yielded odds ratios ranging from 1.43 to 1.85, with the weakest association seen for a healthy plant-based diet and the strongest for alternative healthy foods. Associations were also seen for higher adherence to all dietary patterns with components of healthy aging. Higher intakes of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, unsaturated fats, nuts, legumes, and low-fat dairy products were associated with a greater likelihood of healthy aging, while inverse associations were seen for higher intakes of trans fat, sodium, total meat, and red and processed meat.

“Our study provides evidence that dietary advice is not only aimed at preventing disease, but also at promoting healthy aging in the long term,” Tessier said in a statement.

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