Vegetarian diet and healthy aging among Chinese older adults: a prospective study

Vegetarian diets are increasingly popular worldwide, but their impact on healthy aging in older adults remains unclear. This study examined the association between vegetarian diets and healthy aging among 2,888 healthy older Chinese adults from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey. Dietary patterns (vegan, ovo-vegetarian, pesco-vegetarian, omnivorous) were derived from a simplified non-quantitative food frequency questionnaire. Over a median follow-up of 6 years, after accounting for sociodemographic and lifestyle factors, vegetarians had lower odds of achieving healthy aging compared to omnivores (adjusted OR = 0.65, 95% CI: 0.47-0.89), with consistent results across sensitivity analyses and individual health components. Additionally, the health effects of vegetarian diets may vary depending on diet quality, with vegetarians of higher diet quality not significantly differing in terms of overall healthy aging and individual outcomes when compared to omnivores. Accordingly, this finding highlights modest inclusion of animal-based foods may improve the overall health status of healthy older adults.