Healthy dietary patterns may promote healthy ageing in older adults

Greater adherence to a healthy dietary pattern and a lower inflammatory potential of diet may decrease concentrations of growth differentiation factor (GDF)-15 in older adults, reveals a study, which suggests that improving one’s diet quality may help reduce inflammation and promote healthy ageing.

“GDF-15 is a biomarker for ageing and chronic disease burden that may capture the anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects attributed to healthy diets,” the authors explained.

Cross-sectional data were obtained from 2,501 older adults participating in the Seniors-ENRICA-2 study. The authors derived four diet indices from habitual food consumption estimated with a validated diet history: Mediterranean Diet Adherence Screener (MEDAS), Alternate Healthy Eating Index–2010 (AHEI-2010), Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH), and Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII).

Linear regression models, adjusted for risk factors and biomarkers associated with chronic disease, were used to analyse the associations of the diet indices with GDF-15 concentrations.

A clear dose–response association was noted between all dietary patterns and serum GDF-15 concentrations. In the diet indices, mean reductions in GDF-15 per 1-SD increment were 1.6 percent (95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.1–3.1 percent) for MEDAS, 2.1 percent (95 percent CI, 0.5–3.7 percent) for AHEI-2010, and 1.6 percent (95 percent CI, 0.1–3.2 percent) for DASH, while a mean GDF-15 increase of 1.7 percent (95 percent CI, 0.2–3.4 percent) was seen in DII.

Analyses that excluded fruit and vegetable components for the diet indices revealed that the association persisted for MEDAS and AHEI-2010 but weakened for DASH. Results were similar in analyses excluding participants with cardiovascular disease or diabetes.