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Chua KY, Li H, Sheng LT, Lim WS, Koh WP. Intake of vegetables and fruits at midlife and the risk of physical frailty in later life. J Nutr Health Aging 2024; 28:100374. [PMID: 39316896 DOI: 10.1016/j.jnha.2024.100374] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/30/2024] [Revised: 08/21/2024] [Accepted: 09/14/2024] [Indexed: 09/26/2024]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Our study evaluated the independent and overall associations of vegetable and fruit consumption at midlife with the likelihood of physical frailty in later life. We also investigated whether specific nutrients in these foods could have accounted for these associations, if present. DESIGN Prospective cohort study. SETTING A population-based cohort of Chinese adults followed over a period of 20 years in Singapore. PARTICIPANTS We used data from 11,959 subjects who participated in the baseline (1993-1998) and follow-up 3 (2014-2017) interviews of the Singapore Chinese Health Study. MEASUREMENTS At baseline, dietary intake was evaluated using a validated food frequency questionnaire. During the follow-up 3 visits, physical frailty was assessed using a modified Cardiovascular Health Study phenotype that included weakness, slowness, exhaustion and weight loss. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to estimate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for the associations with physical frailty. RESULTS Participants had mean ages of 52 years at baseline, and 72 years at follow-up 3. Baseline intake of vegetables, but not of fruits, showed a dose-dependent inverse relationship with physical frailty at follow-up 3 (Ptrend = 0.001). Compared to participants in the lowest quintile of vegetable intake, those in the highest quintile had reduced odds of frailty [OR (95% CI): 0.73 (0.60-0.89)]. Among the components of physical frailty, vegetable intake had the strongest inverse association with weakness defined by handgrip strength [OR (95% CI) between extreme quintiles: 0.62 (0.52-0.73); Ptrend < 0.001]. In models that were individually adjusted for nutrients, the vegetable-frailty association was attenuated and no longer statistically significant after adjusting for the intake of β-carotene, lutein, folate, α-carotene, and isothiocyanates. CONCLUSION Increased midlife intake of vegetables was associated with reduced odds of physical frailty in later life, and the intake of β-carotene, lutein, folate, α-carotene, and isothiocyanates could have accounted for this association.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kevin Yiqiang Chua
- Integrative Sciences and Engineering Programme, NUS Graduate School, National University of Singapore, Singapore
| | - Huiqi Li
- Healthy Longevity Translational Research Programme, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore
| | - Li-Ting Sheng
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Environment and Health and State Key Laboratory of Environmental Health (Incubating), School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China; The Affiliated Suzhou Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Suzhou Municipal Hospital, Gusu School, Nanjing Medical University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China
| | - Wee-Shiong Lim
- Department of Geriatric Medicine, Institute of Geriatrics and Active Aging, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore
| | - Woon-Puay Koh
- Healthy Longevity Translational Research Programme, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore; Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences, Agency for Science Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore.
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Lai JS, Chua KY, Li H, Koh WP. Diet quality from mid to late life and its association with physical frailty in late life in a cohort of Chinese adults. Nutr J 2024; 23:57. [PMID: 38835080 PMCID: PMC11149349 DOI: 10.1186/s12937-024-00964-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2024] [Accepted: 05/29/2024] [Indexed: 06/06/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND It is unclear if improving diet quality after midlife could reduce the risk of physical frailty at late life. We aimed to associate changes in diet quality after midlife with physical frailty at late life. METHODS Diet quality in 12,580 participants from the Singapore Chinese Health Study was assessed with the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) scores at baseline (1993-1998; mean age 53 years) and follow-up 3 (2014-2016; mean age 73 years). Physical frailty was assessed using the modified Cardiovascular Health Study phenotype at follow-up 3. Multivariable logistic regressions examined associations between DASH scores and physical frailty. RESULTS Comparing participants in extreme quartiles of DASH scores, the odds ratios (OR) [95% confidence interval (CI)] for physical frailty were 0.85 (0.73,0.99) at baseline and 0.49 (0.41, 0.58) at follow-up 3. Compared to participants with consistently low DASH scores, participants with consistently high scores (OR 0.74, 95% CI: 0.59, 0.94) and those with > 10% increase in scores (OR 0.78, 95% CI: 0.64, 0.95) had lower odds of frailty. Compared to those in the lowest DASH tertiles at both time-points, significantly lower odds of physical frailty were observed in those who were in the highest DASH tertiles at both time points [0.59 (0.48, 0.73)], and in those who improved their scores from the lowest [0.68 (0.51, 0.91)] or second tertile at baseline [0.61 (0.48, 0.76)] to the highest tertile at follow-up 3. CONCLUSIONS Maintaining a high diet quality or a substantial improvement in diet quality after midlife could lower the risk of physical frailty at late life.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jun S Lai
- Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences, Agency for Science Technology and Research, Brenner Centre for Molecular Medicine, 30 Medical Drive, Singapore, 117609, Singapore.
| | - Kevin Y Chua
- Integrative Sciences and Engineering Programme, NUS Graduate School, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 119077, Singapore
| | - Huiqi Li
- Healthy Longevity Translational Research Programme, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 119228, Singapore
| | - Woon-Puay Koh
- Healthy Longevity Translational Research Programme, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 119228, Singapore
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Ho VWT, Chua KY, Song X, Jin A, Koh WP. Reproductive factors and risk of physical frailty among Chinese women living in Singapore. J Nutr Health Aging 2024; 28:100226. [PMID: 38593634 DOI: 10.1016/j.jnha.2024.100226] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/19/2023] [Revised: 03/23/2024] [Accepted: 03/29/2024] [Indexed: 04/11/2024]
Abstract
SETTING Although age at menopause has been linked to higher risk of physical frailty in later life, little is known about other reproductive factors. OBJECTIVES Our study aimed to investigate the associations between 1) age at menarche, 2) age at natural menopause, 3) duration of reproductive period, 4) number of children, 5) use of oral contraceptives (OCP), and 6) use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) with the risk of physical frailty in late life. DESIGN We used data from 5934 women of the Singapore Chinese Health Study who experienced natural menopause, and participated in the third follow-up interviews when physical frailty was assessed. Logistic regression was used to evaluate association of reproductive factors evaluated during baseline and prior follow-up interviews with physical frailty at follow-up 3. PARTICIPANTS Community-dwelling Chinese women living in Singapore. Participants had a mean age of 52.6 years at baseline (1993-1998), and a mean age of 72.8 years during the third follow-up (2014-2017). MEASUREMENTS Sociodemographic characteristics, level of education, smoking history, physical activity, and history of physician-diagnosed comorbidities were collected. Participants' weight and height were self-reported. We used a modified Cardiovascular Health Study phenotype to assess physical frailty. RESULTS Age at menarche was inversely associated with the likelihood of physical frailty (Ptrend = 0.001); each one-year decrease in age at menarche was associated with a 9% increase (95% CI: 4%-14%) in odds of physical frailty. Age at menopause was also inversely associated with the likelihood of physical frailty (Ptrend = 0.009); every one-year decrease in age at menopause was associated with 2% (0%-4%) increased odds. In the assessment of frailty, younger ages at menarche and menopause were associated with greater likelihood of being in the slowest quintile for timed up-and-go and weakest quintile for handgrip strength. Conversely, duration of reproductive period, parity, and use of oral contraceptives or hormone replacement therapy were not significantly associated with the likelihood of physical frailty. CONCLUSIONS In our population-based cohort of Chinese women, younger ages at menarche and menopause were associated with higher likelihood of physical frailty in later life.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vanda W T Ho
- Division of Geriatric Medicine, Department of Medicine, National University Hospital, Singapore; Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore.
| | - Kevin Yiqiang Chua
- Integrative Sciences and Engineering Programme, NUS Graduate School, National University of Singapore, Singapore
| | - Xingyue Song
- Department of Emergency, Hainan Clinical Research Center for Acute and Critical Diseases, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Hainan Medical University, Haikou, China
| | - Aizhen Jin
- Healthy Longevity Translational Research Programme, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore
| | - Woon-Puay Koh
- Healthy Longevity Translational Research Programme, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore; Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences, Agency for Science Technology and Research (A⁎STAR), Singapore
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Chong JSX, Chua KY, Ng KK, Chong SW, Leong RLF, Chee MWL, Koh WP, Zhou JH. Higher handgrip strength is linked to higher salience ventral attention functional network segregation in older adults. Commun Biol 2024; 7:214. [PMID: 38383572 PMCID: PMC10881588 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-024-05862-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/03/2023] [Accepted: 01/26/2024] [Indexed: 02/23/2024] Open
Abstract
Converging evidence suggests that handgrip strength is linked to cognition in older adults, and this may be subserved by shared age-related changes in brain function and structure. However, the interplay among handgrip strength, brain functional connectivity, and cognitive function remains poorly elucidated. Hence, our study sought to examine these relationships in 148 community-dwelling older adults. Specifically, we examined functional segregation, a measure of functional brain organization sensitive to ageing and cognitive decline, and its associations with handgrip strength and cognitive function. We showed that higher handgrip strength was related to better processing speed, attention, and global cognition. Further, higher handgrip strength was associated with higher segregation of the salience/ventral attention network, driven particularly by higher salience/ventral attention intra-network functional connectivity of the right anterior insula to the left posterior insula/frontal operculum and right midcingulate/medial parietal cortex. Importantly, these handgrip strength-related inter-individual differences in salience/ventral attention network functional connectivity were linked to cognitive function, as revealed by functional decoding and brain-cognition association analyses. Our findings thus highlight the importance of the salience/ventral attention network in handgrip strength and cognition, and suggest that inter-individual differences in salience/ventral attention network segregation and intra-network connectivity could underpin the handgrip strength-cognition relationship in older adults.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joanna Su Xian Chong
- Centre for Sleep and Cognition & Centre for Translational Magnetic Resonance Research, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Kevin Yiqiang Chua
- Integrative Sciences and Engineering Programme (ISEP), NUS Graduate School, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Kwun Kei Ng
- Centre for Sleep and Cognition & Centre for Translational Magnetic Resonance Research, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Shin Wee Chong
- Centre for Sleep and Cognition & Centre for Translational Magnetic Resonance Research, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Ruth L F Leong
- Centre for Sleep and Cognition & Centre for Translational Magnetic Resonance Research, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Michael W L Chee
- Centre for Sleep and Cognition & Centre for Translational Magnetic Resonance Research, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Woon Puay Koh
- Healthy Longevity Translational Research Programme, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
- Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences, Agency for Science Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore, Singapore
| | - Juan Helen Zhou
- Centre for Sleep and Cognition & Centre for Translational Magnetic Resonance Research, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.
- Integrative Sciences and Engineering Programme (ISEP), NUS Graduate School, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.
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Chua KY, Li H, Lim WS, Koh WP. Consumption of Coffee, Tea, and Caffeine at Midlife, and the Risk of Physical Frailty in Late Life. J Am Med Dir Assoc 2023; 24:1655-1662.e3. [PMID: 37488031 DOI: 10.1016/j.jamda.2023.06.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/14/2023] [Revised: 06/08/2023] [Accepted: 06/13/2023] [Indexed: 07/26/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Our study evaluated the prospective association between the consumption of caffeine-containing beverages at midlife and the risk of physical frailty at late life within a population-based cohort of Chinese adults living in Singapore over a follow-up period of 20 years. DESIGN Prospective cohort study. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS We used data from 12,583 participants from the baseline and third follow-up interviews of the Singapore Chinese Health Study (SCHS). Participants had a mean age of 53 years at baseline (1993-1998), and a mean age of 73 years during the third follow-up (2014-2017). METHODS At baseline, habitual consumption of caffeine-containing beverages was evaluated using a validated semi-quantitative food-frequency questionnaire. During the third follow-up, physical frailty was assessed using the modified Cardiovascular Health Study phenotype. RESULTS Compared with non-daily drinkers, those who drank 4 or more cups of coffee daily had reduced odds of physical frailty [odds ratio (OR), 0.54; 95% CI, 0.38-0.76]. Similarly, compared with those who hardly drank tea, participants who drank tea everyday also had reduced odds (OR, 0.82; 95% CI, 0.71-0.95). Total daily caffeine intake at midlife was associated with reduced likelihood of frailty at late life in a dose-response relationship (Ptrend < .001). Relative to their counterparts in the lowest quartile of daily caffeine intake (0-67.6 mg/d), participants in the highest quartile (223.0-910.4 mg/d) had an OR of 0.77 (95% CI, 0.66-0.91). Higher caffeine consumption was associated with lower likelihood of being in the slowest quintile for timed up-and-go (TUG) and weakest quintile for handgrip strength. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS In this cohort of Chinese adults, higher consumption of caffeine at midlife, via coffee and tea, was associated with a reduced likelihood of physical frailty in late life.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kevin Y Chua
- Integrative Sciences and Engineering Programme, NUS Graduate School, National University of Singapore, Singapore
| | - Huiqi Li
- Healthy Longevity Translational Research Programme, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore
| | - Wee-Shiong Lim
- Department of Geriatric Medicine, Institute of Geriatrics and Active Aging, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore
| | - Woon-Puay Koh
- Healthy Longevity Translational Research Programme, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore; Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences, Agency for Science Technology and Research (A∗STAR), Singapore.
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