Adherence to Mediterranean Diet Is Associated With Lung Function in Older Adults: Data From the Health and Retirement Study

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this work was to examine the association between adherence to a Mediterranean diet (MD) and lung function in older adults.

Design: This was an observational and cross-sectional study.

Setting: This research was conducted among community-dwelling older adults from the 2014 Health and Retirement Study (HRS).

Subjects: Subjects were 2108 adults aged 50 years or older, 1234 (58.5%) of whom were female.

Measures: Dietary intakes from respondents of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) were used for the current analysis. Adherence to MD was evaluated using the MedDietScore, while lung function was evaluated through peak expiratory flow rate (PEF; l/min). Multiple linear regression and logistic regression were performed, adjusted for potential confounders, to examine the relation between adherence to MD and lung function.

Results: Mean MedDietScore was 28.0 (± 5.0), indicating a moderate adherence to MD. Multiple linear regression showed a significant association between the MedDietScore and lung function (β = 0.072, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.039–0.104) after adjusting for age, gender, body mass index, race, comorbidities, education, height, grip strength, smoking history, physical activity, and daily caloric intake. Specific food groups such as grains, dairy products, and fish consumption were also associated with PEF rate (p < 0.05). Logistic regression confirmed these findings, and high adherence to MD was associated with reduced risk of having PEF rate < 80% of its peak predictive value (odds ratio: 0.65, 95% CI: 0.48–0.89).

Conclusions: The results of this study indicate that adherence to MD is an independent predictor of lung function in older adults, and dietary interventions could be a possible preventive measure in adults with a high risk of developing lung function decline.

Keywords:

• Older adults
• MedDietScore
• Mediterranean diet
• pulmonary
• lung function

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interests.

Ethical standards disclosure

The HRS was conducted according to the guidelines laid down in the Declaration of Helsinki and all procedures involving research study participants were approved by the University of Michigan Institutional Review Board. Written informed consent was obtained from all subjects.

Additional information

Funding

The HRS received funding from the National Institutes of Health (U01 AG009740).