Food group intakes and all-cause mortality among a young older Japanese population of the same age: the New Integrated Suburban Seniority Investigation Project

Evaluating the effects of dietary intake on mortality in older populations has become increasingly important in modern aging societies. The objective of the present study was to investigate the associations between food group intakes and all-cause mortality among a young older population. We conducted a prospective study on 1,324 men and 1,338 women aged 64–65 years at baseline who were living in a suburban city from 1996 to 2005. The participants were followed for all-cause mortality from 1996 through 2015 to assess the effects of 17 food group intakes (g) per 1,000 kcal after multivariable adjustments in proportional hazard models. During follow-up (mean: 13.2 years), 339 deaths were registered. In women, total mortality was significantly and inversely associated with the consumption of milk and dairy products and vegetables. The hazard ratios across intake quartiles after multivariable adjustment were 1, 0.70 (95% confidence interval: 0.42–1.17), 0.66 (0.40–1.10), and 0.40 (0.22–0.75) (P for trend = 0.003) for milk and dairy products, and 1, 0.77 (0.46–1.28), 0.83 (0.50–1.38), and 0.42 (0.23–0.78) (P for trend = 0.008) for vegetables. In men, a positive association was found between total mortality and sugar and sweetener consumption (P for trend = 0.038). Higher consumption of milk and dairy products and vegetables was suggested to reduce all-cause mortality in young older women.