Eirini Mamalaki1, Costas A Anastasiou1,2, Mary H Kosmidis3, Efthimios Dardiotis4, Georgios M Hadjigeorgiou4,5, Paraskevi Sakka6, Nikolaos Scarmeas2, Mary Yannakoulia1. 1. Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Harokopio University, Eleftheriou Venizelou 70, 17676 Athens, Greece. 2. Department of Social Medicine, Psychiatry and Neurology, 1st Department of Neurology, Aeginition University Hospital, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece. 3. Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, School of Psychology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece. 4. Department of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Thessaly, Larissa, Greece. 5. Department of Neurology, Medical School, University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus. 6. Athens Association of Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders, Marousi, Greece.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: The present study aimed to explore the associations between social life and adherence to a healthy dietary pattern, the Mediterranean diet (MD), in a population-representative cohort of older people. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. Adherence to the MD was evaluated by an a priori score; tertiles of the score, indicating low, medium and high adherence, were used in the analyses. Social life was assessed by a questionnaire evaluating participation in leisure-time activities and the number of social contacts; primary occupation was also recorded and job characteristics were further explored. SETTING: Community-dwelling older adults. PARTICIPANTS: Adults from the Hellenic Longitudinal Investigation of Aging and Diet (HELIAD) study (n 1933; age range 65-99 years). RESULTS: Each unit increase in the number of social contacts/month and in the frequency score of intellectual, social and physical activities was associated with a 1·6, 6·8, 4·8 and 13·7 % increase in the likelihood of a participant being in the high MD adherence group, respectively. The analysis by age group revealed that younger elderly participants had a 1·4, 8·4 and 11·3 % higher likelihood to be in the high adherence group for each unit increase in the number of social contacts/month and in the frequency score of engagement in intellectual and physical activities, respectively. Similar associations were found for older elderly participants with high compared with low MD adherence, except for the intellectual activities. CONCLUSIONS: The present results suggest that high MD adherence is associated with good social life, suggesting a clustering of health-promoting lifestyle factors in older adults.
OBJECTIVE: The present study aimed to explore the associations between social life and adherence to a healthy dietary pattern, the Mediterranean diet (MD), in a population-representative cohort of older people. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. Adherence to the MD was evaluated by an a priori score; tertiles of the score, indicating low, medium and high adherence, were used in the analyses. Social life was assessed by a questionnaire evaluating participation in leisure-time activities and the number of social contacts; primary occupation was also recorded and job characteristics were further explored. SETTING: Community-dwelling older adults. PARTICIPANTS: Adults from the Hellenic Longitudinal Investigation of Aging and Diet (HELIAD) study (n 1933; age range 65-99 years). RESULTS: Each unit increase in the number of social contacts/month and in the frequency score of intellectual, social and physical activities was associated with a 1·6, 6·8, 4·8 and 13·7 % increase in the likelihood of a participant being in the high MD adherence group, respectively. The analysis by age group revealed that younger elderly participants had a 1·4, 8·4 and 11·3 % higher likelihood to be in the high adherence group for each unit increase in the number of social contacts/month and in the frequency score of engagement in intellectual and physical activities, respectively. Similar associations were found for older elderly participants with high compared with low MD adherence, except for the intellectual activities. CONCLUSIONS: The present results suggest that high MD adherence is associated with good social life, suggesting a clustering of health-promoting lifestyle factors in older adults.
Entities:
Keywords:
Diet quality; Leisure time; Mediterranean diet; Older adults; Social contacts; Social life
Authors: Amanda Björnwall; Ylva Mattsson Sydner; Afsaneh Koochek; Nicklas Neuman Journal: Int J Environ Res Public Health Date: 2021-03-27 Impact factor: 3.390