Dairy Consumption and Risk of Frailty in Older Adults: A Prospective Cohort Study

To examine the association between consumption of dairy products and risk of frailty in community-dwelling older adults.

Prospective cohort study.

General population from the older cohort of the Study on Nutrition and Cardiovascular Risk in Spain.

Community-dwelling adults aged 60 and older free of frailty at baseline (N = 1,871).

From 2008 to 2010, food consumption was assessed using a validated diet history. Participants were examined again in 2012 to assess incident frailty, defined as at least three of the five Fried criteria (exhaustion, weakness, low physical activity, slow walking speed, unintentional weight loss). Adjusted odds ratios (OR) for the main confounders were obtained using logistic regression.

During follow-up, 134 new cases of frailty were identified. Participants consuming seven or more servings per week of low-fat milk and yogurt had lower incidence of frailty (OR = 0.52; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.29-0.90; P for trend = .03) than those consuming less than one serving per week. Specifically, consumers of seven or more servings per week of low-fat milk and yogurt had less risk of slow walking speed (OR = 0.64, 95% CI = 0.44-0.92, P trend = .01) and of weight loss (OR = 0.54, 95% CI = 0.33-0.87, P trend = .02). Consuming seven or more servings per week of whole milk or yogurt (OR = 1.53, 95% CI = 0.90-2.60, P trend = .10) or of cheese (OR = 0.91, 95% CI = 0.52-1.61; P trend = .61) was not associated with incident frailty.

Higher consumption of low-fat milk and yogurt was associated with lower risk of frailty and, specifically, of slow walking speed and weight loss. Current recommendations to prevent frailty include protein supplementation; thus, although experimental research is needed, increasing the consumption of low-fat yogurt and milk might prevent frailty in older adults.