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Eating plant-based foods that contain nutritional components called flavonols may lower your chances of developing frailty.
Foods such as apples and blackberries that contain a flavonoid called quercetin may be most important for preventing frailty.
About 10% to 15% of older adults experience frailty, a geriatric syndrome that leads to a greater risk of falls, fractures, disability, hospitalization, and death. The current dietary recommendations to prevent frailty mainly focus on protein intake. However, there are many other foods that may have health benefits
“Perhaps there is some validity to the old adage, an apple a day keeps the doctor (or frailty) away,” the authors said. “Our findings suggest that for every 10 mg higher flavonol intake per day, the likelihood of frailty decreased by 20%. Individuals can easily consume 10 mg of flavonols per day, as a medium-sized apple contains about 10 mg of flavonols.”
“While there was no significant association between total flavonoid intake and frailty, a higher intake of flavonols (one of the subclasses of flavonoids) was associated with a lower likelihood of developing frailty. In particular, a higher intake of quercetin was the flavonoid that had the strongest association with frailty prevention. These data suggest that there may be certain subclasses of flavonoids that have the most potential as a nutritional strategy for frailty prevention,” said study co-author Shivani Sahni, Ph.D., of the Department of Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, and the Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute for Aging Research, Hebrew SeniorLife; and Courtney L. Millar, Ph.D., of the Department of Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, and the Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute for Aging Research, Hebrew SeniorLife.
The authors suggest that future research should focus on nutritional interventions of flavonols or quercetin for the treatment of frailty. Research is also needed in racially and ethnically diverse participants.
The findings have been published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition article, “Higher intakes of dietary flavonols, particularly dietary quercetin, are associated with a lower likelihood of developing frailty over 12 years of follow-up in adults in the Framingham Heart Study.” This is one of the first community-based studies to comprehensively examine the role of dietary flavonoids in preventing frailty.
Detailed description of the study
This study uses data from the Framingham Heart Study—Offspring Cohort to determine the association between flavonoid intake and the onset of frailty. There were 1,701 individuals included in this analysis. All were free of frailty at baseline and were followed from ~12 years to evaluate frailty status (assessed by the Fried Frailty Phenotype). After ~12 years, 13.2% of participants developed frailty. Total flavonoid intake was not significantly associated with the onset of frailty. However, intake of flavonols (a type of flavonoid, specifically quercetin) was associated with a lower likelihood of developing frailty.
More information:
Steven Oei et al., A higher intake of dietary flavonols, particularly dietary quercetin, is associated with a lower likelihood of developing frailty over 12 years of follow-up in adults in the Framingham Heart Study, The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.ajcnut.2023.04.013
Provided by Hebrew SeniorLife Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute for Aging Research
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