For a high-quality diet which also contained a relatively high amount of highly processed foods, people still were at high risk of frailty. Photo Shutterstock Not much research has been done on frailty in older people. Assistant professor Neha Khandpur investigated whether this condition is linked to a person’s diet.
Khandpur and colleagues conducted a new data analysis on the Harvard Nurses’ Health Study’s research cohort. ‘Harvard has many research cohorts available for analysis. They contain data on males and females, and many readings have been repeated intermittently’, Khandpur states. The cohort used in this analysis has been following American female nurses since 1976. Since 1980, the cohort has included diets, and frailty has been added since 1992.
The data of over 63,000 women were used in this analysis. At the start of the study, these women were over sixty but did not yet show signs of frailty. All subjects were followed for at least 26 years, during which time more than 15 thousand women developed frailty, which was demonstrated by such symptoms as weight loss, fatigue and loss of strength. This frailty negatively impacts their resilience. As a result, they experience more health issues from relatively innocent ailments.
Ultra-processed or minimally processed
A high intake of minimally processed foods, such as fresh vegetables or minimally processed milk and grains, protects against frailty. Conversely, a higher intake of ultra-processed products, such as canned goods, meat and cheese, soda, sweets and cookies, increased the risk of frailty by 31 per cent, Khandpur clarifies. ‘This matched our hypothesis. Similar effects are seen for diabetes, obesity and various types of cancer. How precisely this works is still not fully clear.’
An in-depth analysis was conducted to investigate whether specific product groups may influence frailty. The researchers discovered that the risk of frailty was proportional to the consumption of sodas and other sugary drinks, spreads, fats, yoghurt and other dairy desserts.
Diet quality
Although most of the outcomes are not very surprising, one thing astounded Khandpur. ‘We conducted an analysis in which we corrected for diet quality. A good quality diet containing plenty of vegetables, fruits and legumes, which also included relatively large quantities of ultra-processed foods, still elevated the risk of frailty compared to those who consumed fewer ultra-processed products. We often assume that ultra-processed foods lower the quality of our diet. Our analysis shows that ultra-processed foods have a significant effect on frailty, regardless of the quality of the diet.’
Other groups
‘We have learned that nutrition and frailty are linked, but we have yet to discover the biological mechanisms underpinning this link. We also don’t know whether the effect we observed is also present in males or other groups with a diet differing from that in the cohort’, Khandpur explains. ‘More research is needed. In the Netherlands, we have the Lifelines cohort and the Rotterdam study. These would be well-suited to replicate the findings in this study on ultra-processed foods and frailty.’
meat is listed as one of the ultra processed foods.
what kind of meat are we talking about? processed sausages with high levels of nitrites? or also a fresh cut of game that has been lightly seared?