Association of Dietary Variety Status and Sarcopenia in Korean Elderly

Sarcopenia is associated with a variety of factors including age, diseases, exercise, and heredity. In particular, diet is known to affect changes in muscle mass loss.

The purpose of this study was to analyze the diversity of food intake according to the presence of sarcopenia in elderly people over 65 years old using the 2008 to 2011 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The differences in subjects' general characteristics, lifestyle, and intake of 15 food groups were compared, and the risk odds ratio (OR) for sarcopenia was calculated for each food intake by gender.

The proportion of sarcopenia was 27.7% for males and 24.3% for females. The sarcopenia group had significantly lower intakes of nuts and seeds, meats, and milks than the non-sarcopenia group in males. The females had significantly lower intake of fruits, milks, and beverages in non-sarcopenia group. The dietary diversity score was significantly lower in females with sarcopenia than non-sarcopenia group. Regression analysis of the risk OR for sarcopenia according to food group intake showed that the subjects in the lowest tertile (<31.1 g) had a 1.83 times (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.13-2.42) risk for sarcopenia in males. In case of milks intake of females, the risk for sarcopenia increased 1.39 times (95% CI, 1.11-1.86) in subjects with the lowest tertile (<30.1 g).

Dietary diversity status was the most vulnerable to female with sarcopenia. Sarcopenia was associated with meat intake in male and milk intake in female.