A major Swedish study has shown that diet plays a critical role in how chronic diseases build up over time in older adults. Researchers more than 2,400 older adults in Sweden for 15 years to investigate the impact of dietary patterns on multimorbidity (Figure 1).
Figure 1: Association between the cumulative adherence to dietary patterns and the yearly rate of total chronic disease accumulation during a 15-year follow-up (N = 2,473). MIND: baseline range: 2–12; 1 s.d. = 1.74. AHEI: baseline range: 29.9–91.7; 1 s.d. = 9.82. AMED: baseline range: 0–9; 1 s.d. = 1.76. EDII: baseline range: −1.36 to 2.70; 1 s.d. = 0.30. Model: linear mixed model with random intercept and slope, adjusted by age (years), sex (male or female), living arrangements (alone or not), previous occupation (manual or non-manual worker), education (elementary, high school or university), tobacco smoking (never, former smoker, current smoker or unknown), physical activity (inadequate, health-enhancing, fitness-enhancing or unknown) and energy intake (kcal d−1). Data are presented as average predicted number of chronic diseases ± 95% CIs (shaded area).
The team compared three healthy diets, characterized by high intake of vegetables, fruit, whole grains, nuts, legumes, and unsaturated fats, and low intake of sweets, red and processed meat, and butter/margarine, with a pro-inflammatory diet rich in red/processed meats, refined grains, and sweetened beverages, with low intake of vegetables, tea, and coffee.
Findings:
- Older adults adhering to healthy diets experienced a slower accumulation of chronic diseases, particularly cardiovascular disease and dementia.
- No significant effect was observed for conditions related to muscle and bone health.
- By contrast, those following the pro-inflammatory diet had a higher risk of developing multiple chronic conditions.
Their results show how important diet is in influencing the development of multimorbidity in aging populations.
Journal article: Abbad-Gomez, D., et al., 2025. Dietary patterns and accelerated multimorbidity in older adults. Nature Aging.
Summary by Stefan Botha
