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. 2025 May 24.
doi: 10.1007/s41999-025-01234-8. Online ahead of print.

Association between plant-based diets and disability in daily activities in older Chinese individuals

Huanting Zhang  1   2 , Jianan He  3 , Xianwen You  2 , Xingyou Liu  3 , Wenhao Zhou  3 , Jie Shen  4   5
Affiliations

Association between plant-based diets and disability in daily activities in older Chinese individuals

Huanting Zhang et al. Eur Geriatr Med. .

Abstract

Introduction: To investigate the independent and comprehensive association between plant-based diets and activities of daily living (ADL) in older Chinese individuals, we conducted a longitudinal study to evaluate the relationship between the plant-based diet index (PDI) and ADL in this population.

Methods: This study included 18,670 participants (women [proportion]: 9899 [53.0%]) who were able to independently conduct ADL at baseline in the 1998-2018 China Longitudinal Survey of Health and Longevity (CLHLS). The Cox proportional hazard model was used to test the association between a plant-based diet and activities of daily living-related disabilities.

Results: At baseline, the median age of all participants was 83 years old. Taking Q1 as the reference value, the hazard ratios (HR) for quartiles Q2, Q3, and Q4 were 1.080 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.018-1.147], 1.086 (95% CI 1.007-1.181), and 1.110 (95% CI 1.038-1.187), respectively. This indicated that a higher PDI might have had adverse effects on ADL. Adjustments have been made to the potential inclusion population and data processing strategies, as well as to the frequency of intake based on nutritional factors. Subsequently, it was found that the obtained results were consistent with the preliminary analysis.

Conclusion: This study found that a higher plant-based diet was associated with an increased risk of disability in daily activities, while the intake of meat and fish was associated with a decreased risk. These findings highlight the importance of dietary balance in plant-based diets.

Keywords: Activities of daily living; CLHLS; Chinese; Cohort study; Disability; Plant-based diet.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Conflict of interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest. Consent for publication: All authors consented to the final version submitted. Ethics approval and consent to participate: CLHLS Research Program was approved by Peking University's Research Ethics Committee (approval number: IRB00001052-13074). Also, participants or their proxy respondents will be required to sign a written informed consent form prior to the survey. Informed consent: All participants or their legally authorized representatives provided written informed consent prior to their participation in the CLHLS Research Program.

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