A study conducted by researchers from the University College London (UCL) has found that following the Mediterranean diet can lower the risk of frailty in older individuals. This study was published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
The Mediterranean diet is a diet that patterns itself around the traditional foods and eating habits of Italy and Greece during the 1960s. The diet focuses on eating fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes and nuts and seeds. The diet also emphasizes the consumption of fish and seafood, poultry, eggs, herbs and spices, and healthy fats such as extra virgin olive oil. The diet also makes it clear that it’s important to avoid the consumption of unhealthy foods such as added sugars, refined grains and oils, trans fats, processed meat and other highly processed foods.
According to the researchers, the Mediterranean diet can help keep people strong and healthy in their twilight years.
Older adults often show signs of frailty, and individuals are at high risk as they age. Most of the time, these “frail” older individuals can be negatively affected by symptoms such as low energy, weight loss, and weak muscle strength. These symptoms can then cause serious health concerns, ranging from falls and fractures to disability, dementia and premature death. They are also at higher risk of being hospitalized or being placed in nursing homes. Among older adults, frailty is associated with a lower quality of life.
The researchers reviewed data published in studies that examined the associations between sticking to a Mediterranean diet and the development of frailty in older adults. Their study included nearly 5,800 people in four different studies conducted in Spain, Italy, France and China. Their search was focused on how proper nutrition, especially later in life, might decrease the risk of frailty.
“People who followed a Mediterranean diet the most were overall less than half as likely to become frail over the nearly four-year period compared with those who followed it the least,” said co-study author Kate Walters of UCL.
The researchers wrote that based on their findings, the diet helps older individuals preserve their muscle strength, activity, weight and energy levels. “Our study supports the growing body of evidence on the potential health benefits of a Mediterranean diet, in our case for potentially helping older people to stay well as they age,” said co-author Gotaro Kojima of UCL.
While older individuals who followed the Mediterranean diet had a lower chance of becoming frail, it remains to be seen if the people who observed the diet had “other characteristics” that may have contributed to this.
Dr. Walters shared, “While the studies we included adjusted for many of the major factors that could be associated — for example, their age, gender, social class, smoking, alcohol, how much they exercised, and how many health conditions they had — there may be other factors that were not measured and we could not account for.” She concludes that she and the rest of her team need to look into larger studies to determine if “increasing how much you follow a Mediterranean diet will reduce your risk of becoming frail.”
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The Mediterranean diet involves the consumption of plenty of superfoods. To learn more about which superfoods you need to eat, check out Superfoods.news.
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