Elderly Women’s Healthy Aging Linked to Adequate Protein Intake in Middle Age: Study in American Journal of Clinical Nutrition

Lifestyle. Photo source – Freepik

Elderly women are more likely to age healthily and have a favorable mental and physical health status if they had an adequate protein intake in middle age. These are the results of a new analysis of data from the Nurses’ Health Study, published in American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. This is the first study to assess the long-term impact of midlife protein intake on later health status.

The most important impact on healthy aging was associated with vegetable protein intake, followed by dairy protein and then animal protein. Plant protein consumption was associated with a reduced likelihood of having limitations in physical function and was also associated with a favorable mental status.

The analysis included the prospective data of almost 50,000 nurses, who in 1984 were less than 60 years old. The total protein intake, of animal, vegetable or dairy origin, was evaluated based on the food questionnaires. After adjusting for lifestyle, demographics, and health status, nearly 4,000 participants were eligible, with an average age at study inclusion of nearly 50 years.

Healthy aging was defined as the absence of 11 major chronic diseases, good mental health and the absence of cognitive disorders or physical function, following the evaluation based on questionnaires completed in 2014 or 2016. The conditions or interventions analyzed were represented by cancer, diabetes type 2, myocardial infarction, coronary bypass or coronary angioplasty, congestive heart failure, stroke, renal failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

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2024-02-22 16:17:06
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