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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Boston, Massachusetts » Jean Mayer Human Nutrition Research Center On Aging » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #386622
Research Project: Longitudinal Analysis of Diet Quality, Health Outcomes and Mortality and Predictors of Living to Become a Centenarian

Location: Jean Mayer Human Nutrition Research Center On Aging

Title: The association between poor diet quality, physical fatigability and physical function in the oldest-old from the Geisinger Rural Aging Study

Author
item DAVIS, BRETT - Louisiana State University
item LIU, YI-HSUAN - Pennsylvania State University
item STAMPLEY, JAMES - Louisiana State University
item WOOD, G. CRAIG - Geisinger Medical Center
item MITCHELL, DIANE - Pennsylvania State University
item JENSEN, GORDON - University Of Vermont College Of Medicine
item GAO, XIANG - Pennsylvania State University
item GLYNN, NANCY - University Of Pittsburgh
item STILL, CHRISTOPHER - Geisinger Medical Center
item IRVING, BRIAN - Louisiana State University

Submitted to: Geriatrics
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/12/2021
Publication Date: 4/15/2021
Citation: Davis, B., Liu, Y., Stampley, J., Wood, G., Mitchell, D., Jensen, G., Gao, X., Glynn, N., Still, C., Irving, B. 2021. The association between poor diet quality, physical fatigability and physical function in the oldest-old from the Geisinger Rural Aging Study. Geriatrics. 6:41. https://doi.org/10.3390/geriatrics6020041.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/geriatrics6020041

Interpretive Summary: A number of observational studies have examined the association between individual dietary components and risk of Parkinson’s disease; however, observational studies investigating the role of overall diet quality and/or dietary pattern on the pathogenesis of Parkinson’s disease are limited. In a prospective study conducted in over 3600 Geisinger Rural Aging Study participants we observed that having high diet quality, as assessed by a validated diet quality screening tool, was associated with lower future risk of Parkinson’s disease. In addition, a meta-analysis of other studies was conducted also suggesting that having high diet quality or adherence to a healthy dietary pattern is associated with lower risk of Parkinson’s disease. These data suggest that a healthy diet may be a potential modifiable lifestyle factor that may delay or prevent the onset of Parkinson’s disease.

Technical Abstract: The oldest old (aged = 80 years) are often the population subgroup at high nutritional More perceived physical fatigability and poor diet quality are associated with impairments in physical function in older adults. However, the degree to which more perceived fatigability explains the association between poor diet quality and low physical function is unknown. We examined this relationship in 122 (66F, 56M) of the oldest-old participants from the Geisinger Rural Aging Study (GRAS). We used 24-h dietary recalls to assess the Healthy Eating Index (HEI), the Pittsburgh Fatigability Scale (PFS, 0–50) to assess perceived physical fatigability, and the PROMIS Physical Function 20a* to assess physical function. We grouped participants into three age categories: 80–84 (n = 51), 85–89 (n = 51), and 90+ (n = 20) years. Multiple linear regression revealed that a lower HEI was associated with higher PFS Physical score after adjusting for age group, sex, body mass index, and the number of medical conditions (p = 0.001). Several macro- and micro-nutrient intakes were also lower in those reporting more (=15) compared to less.