Skip to main content
ARS Home » Northeast Area » Boston, Massachusetts » Jean Mayer Human Nutrition Research Center On Aging » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #124782
Title: DIETARY QUALITY AND LIFESTYLE HABITS OF EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN ELDERS

Author
item HAVEMAN-NIES, A - WAGINENGEN AGRI. U
item DE GROOT, C - WAGINENGEN AGRI. U
item TUCKER, KATHERINE - HNRCA
item VAN STAVEREN, W - WAGINENGEN AGRI. U

Submitted to: World Congress of Gerontology
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/1/2001
Publication Date: 7/1/2001
Citation: HAVEMAN-NIES, A., DE GROOT, C.P., TUCKER, K.L., VAN STAVEREN, W.A. DIETARY QUALITY AND LIFESTYLE HABITS OF EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN ELDERS. WORLD CONGRESS OF GERONTOLOGY. 2001;Program Abstracts.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Lifestyle habits play an important role in the onset of chronic diseases and disability. The prevalence of chronic diseases and functional limitations is rapidly increasing in the older population. Modifiable lifestyle factors as dietary intake, physical activity and smoking habits can be important instruments in the postponement of morbidity and can have a major effect on the quality of life. Lifestyle habits are changing over time and therefore this study describes dietary patterns and lifestyle factors, such as overweight, physical activity, and smoking habits of older Americans and Europeans. Further, the relationship between dietary patterns and lifestyle factors is investigated. Two methods to make dietary patterns operational are cluster analysis and the calculation of diet scores. Both cluster analysis and diet scores can be used to classify persons into groups differing in nutritional status. In this study the Mediterranean Diet Score and the Healthy Diet Indicator are calculated for 2110 elderly, aged 70-77 y, of the Europe-wide SENECA Study and the Framingham Heart Study. Each dietary assessment method provided similar categorization of persons into groups of low and high dietary quality. In this older population, a high dietary quality was still related to other healthy lifestyle habits, implicating that a high quality diet is part of a healthy lifestyle and diet should be integrated in a multidisciplinary approach of health prevention.