[Analysis of inflammation-related dietary patterns and sarcopenia in the elderly]

To explore the association between inflammation-related dietary patterns and sarcopenia and its related muscle health indicators in the elderly.

For this study on improving nutrition among the elderly in China, we selected Wuyuan County in Bayannur City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region; Taicang City in Jiangsu Province; and Yuexiu District in Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province.834 eligible subjects aged 65 and above were finally included. Dietary data were collected through the food frequency questionnaire(FFQ). Inflammation-related dietary patterns were extracted using the reduced-rank regression method, and sarcopenia was diagnosed using the Asian Working Group on Muscular Attenuation(AWGS) 2019 recommendation criteria. Logistic regression model was used to analyze the relationship between inflammation-related dietary patterns and sarcopenia and muscle health-related indicators in the elderly.

The prevalence of sarcopenia in the study population was 19.9%. The inflammatory markers hypersensitive C-reactive protein and interleukin-12 were significantly associated with the risk of sarcopenia(OR=1.12(95%CI 1.06-1.18), OR=1.08(95%CI 1.03-1.14)). Analysis of dietary patterns related to inflammation showed that poultry meat, legumes, flour, animal oil and other foods were more consumed, while vegetable oil, rice, soybeans, eggs, fruits, potatoes, vegetables and other foods were less consumed. In the adjusted model, there was no significant correlation between inflammation-related dietary patterns and the risk of sarcopenia. Further analysis found that this pattern was significantly positively correlated with lower muscle mass in the elderly(P<0.05).

This study did not find a direct association between inflammation-related dietary patterns and the risk of sarcopenia, but revealed a negative association with muscle mass in the elderly.