Dietary patterns and successful ageing: a systematic review

PURPOSE: Nutrition is a key determinant of chronic disease in later life. A systematic review was conducted of studies examining dietary patterns and quality of life, physical function, cognitive function and mental health among older adults. METHODS: Literature searches in MEDLINE complete, Academic Search Complete, CINAHL Complete, Ageline, Global health, PsycINFO, SCOPUS and EMBASE and hand searching from 1980 up to December 2014 yielded 1236 results. Inclusion criteria included dietary pattern assessment via dietary indices or statistical approaches, a sample of community-dwelling adults aged 45 years and over at baseline and a cross-sectional or longitudinal study design. Exclusion criteria included a single 24-h recall of diet, evaluation of single foods or nutrients, clinical or institutionalised samples and intervention studies. Risk of bias was assessed using the six-item Effective Public Health Practice Project’s Quality Assessment Tool for Quantitative Studies. RESULTS: There were 34 articles (11 cross-sectional and 23 longitudinal) included with 23 studies examining dietary indices and 13 studies using empirical analysis. Most studies examined mental health (n = 10) or cognitive function (n = 18), with fewer studies examining quality of life (n = 6) and physical function (n = 8). Although dietary pattern and outcome assessment methods varied, most studies reported positive associations between a healthier diet and better health outcomes. CONCLUSION: Overall, the number of studies using dietary patterns to investigate diet and successful ageing is small, and further investigation in longitudinal studies is needed, particularly for quality-of-life outcomes. This review provides support for the importance of a healthy diet for the ageing population globally. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00394-015-1123-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.