Dietary patterns and intrinsic capacity in older adults: a 6-year prospective cohort study

Abstract

Objectives: Only a few studies have investigated dietary patterns and intrinsic capacity (IC). This study examined the prospective associations between dietary patterns, IC, and IC sub-domains over 6 years in community-dwelling Korean older adults. Design: A prospective cohort study. Setting and participants: Data were obtained from participants aged 70-84 years in the Korean Frailty and Aging Cohort Study (2016-2022). The study population included 665 enrollees at baseline who completed IC and dietary data. Methods: Dietary data were obtained from baseline surveys of the nutritional sub-cohort using two nonconsecutive 24-hour dietary recalls, and dietary patterns were derived using cluster analysis. IC was constructed by measuring cognitive, locomotor, vitality, sensory, and psychological domains. A generalized estimating equation was used to analyze the longitudinal associations between dietary patterns, IC, and IC sub-domain scores. Results: In total, 665 enrollees were included in the analysis. After adjusting for confounders, in older men, the dietary pattern of cluster 1 (variety of healthy foods and alcohols) compared to that of cluster 2 (rice and kimchi) was positively associated with changes in the IC score (E = 0.41, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.04-0.78). In older women, the dietary pattern of cluster 1 (variety of healthy foods) was positively associated with changes in the IC score (E = 0.30, 95% CI = 0.02-0.58), IC score group (E = 0.11, 95% CI = 0.02-0.20), and psychological domain (E = 0.25, 95% CI = 0.11-0.38) compared to that of cluster 3 (rice, vegetables, and kimchi). Conclusions: Dietary patterns (variety of healthy foods) were positively associated with changes in IC scores and their sub-domains in older adults. (c) 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Masson SAS on behalf of SERDI Publisher. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).