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. 2009 May;13(5):414-20.
doi: 10.1007/s12603-009-0077-y.

Dietary factors in relation to daily activity energy expenditure and mortality among older adults

D R Shahar  1 , B Yu, D K Houston, S B Kritchevsky, J-S Lee, S M Rubin, D E Sellmeyer, F A Tylavsky, T B Harris; Health, Aging and Body Composition Study
Affiliations

Dietary factors in relation to daily activity energy expenditure and mortality among older adults

D R Shahar et al. J Nutr Health Aging. 2009 May.

Abstract

Objectives: To examine the association between dietary factors to daily activity energy expenditure (DAEE) and mortality among older adults.

Design and setting: A sub-study of Health, Aging, and Body Composition study.

Participants: 298 older participants (aged 70-82 years) in the Health, Aging, and Body Composition Energy Expenditure sub-study.

Measurements: Dietary factors, DAEE, and all-cause mortality were measured in 298 older participants. Dietary factors include dietary intake assessed by the Block Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ), Healthy Eating Index (HEI), and self-reported appetite and enjoyment of eating. DAEE was assessed using doubly labeled water. All-cause mortality was evaluated over a 9 year period.

Results: Participants in the highest tertile of DAEE were more likely to be men and to report having a 'good' appetite; BMI among men, proportion married, IL-6 and CRP levels and energy intake were also higher. Fewer black participants were in the 'good' HEI category. Participants in the 'good' HEI category had higher cognitive scores and a higher education level. Participants who reported improvement in their appetite as well as participants who reported a 'good' appetite were at lower risk for mortality (HR (95% CI): 0.42 (0.24-0.74) and 0.50 (0.26-0.88), respectively) even after adjusting for DAEE, demographic, nutritional and health indices.

Conclusions: We showed an association between DAEE and appetite and mortality among well-functioning, community-dwelling older adults. These findings may have some practical use for the health providers. Inclusion of a question regarding appetite of an elderly patient may provide important information regarding risk for health deterioration and mortality.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: The editor in chief has reviewed the conflict of interest checklist provided by the author and has determined that none of the authors have any financial or any other kind of personal conflicts with this article.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The distribution of tertiles of daily activity energy expenditure (DAEE; in percent) by Healthy Eating Index (HEI) categories (poor (HEI score <51), needs improvement (HEI score of 51–80, and good (HEI score >80) [the categories for HEI in the title (poor, needs improvement, good) don’t match the categories used on the x axis (HEI-1, HEI-2, HEI-3)]
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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