Daily fruit or vegetable consumption and frailty among older adults: Findings from the ELSI-Brazil and ELSA cohorts

Abstract

Objectives: We investigated differences in daily fruit or vegetable consumption and their relationship with frailty in older Brazilian and English adults (≥60 years) from nationally representative cohorts.

Methods: This cross-sectional study included 4,878 participants from the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Aging (ELSI-Brazil, 2015-2016) and 4,223 participants from the English Longitudinal Study of Aging (ELSA, 2016-2017). "Frailty" comprised the five components of frailty phenotype (shrinking, weekness, slowness, exhaution, and low physical activity level). We used multinomial logistic regression in the statistical analysis.

Results and discussion: Pre-frailty and frailty profile were similar in Brazil and England, although daily fruit or vegetable consumption was lower in Brazil among non-frail, pre-frail, and frail older adults. After adjustments, consuming 3 or more daily portions of fruits or vegetables decreased the odds of pre-frailty (Odds Ratio [OR] 0.60; 0.38-0.95) and frailty (OR 0.44; 0.20-0.93) only among older English adults. The results revealed that fruit or vegetable consumption was worse among Brazilians and significantly associated with frailty only among English. Food intake is an essential modifiable factor that should be included in preventive and early approaches related to frailty in later life.

Keywords: Ageing; Frailty; Fruit; Vegetable.