Dietary patterns and healthy ageing

In a recent paper published in Nature Medicine, Anne-Julie Tessier, from the University of Montreal, and colleagues examined the association between healthy ageing and adherence to 8 dietary patterns and ultra-processed food consumption over 30 years. Healthy ageing was defined as living to the age of 70 without the presence of 11 chronic diseases and maintaining intact physical and cognitive functions and mental health. A total of 105,015 participants from 2 large prospective cohorts of women and men from the USA were included in the study. Results were stratified according to sex, ancestry, socio-economic status and lifestyle factors.

The main findings suggest that higher adherence to all dietary patterns is associated with greater odds of healthy ageing. In particular, the Alternative Healthy Eating Index and the healthful plant-based diet showed the strongest and weakest associations with healthy ageing, respectively. With few exceptions, these associations were stronger among women, past or current smokers, participants with a body mass index greater than 25 kg m^–2 and participants with a level of physical activity below the median. Higher ultra-processed food consumption was also found to be associated with lower odds of reaching the age of 70 years and maintaining mental health and physical and cognitive functions. Given the challenge of informing the development of dietary guidelines for healthy ageing, this work provides more specific insights into what constitutes an optimal dietary pattern.