Dietary carbohydrates and change in physical performance of elderly Europeans: Survey in Europe on Nutrition and the Elderly, a Concerted Action (SENECA) 1993 and 1999.

OBJECTIVE

To study dietary glycaemic index (GI) and glycaemic load (GL) in association with physical performance in elderly Europeans.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional and prospective study. Physical performance was measured using the Physical Performance Test (PPT) score on a scale from 0 to 27, where high scores indicate a better physical performance. Habitual diets were measured using diet history interviews and dietary GI and GL were estimated from table values.

SETTING

Eight towns/centres from the Survey in Europe on Nutrition and the Elderly, a Concerted Action (SENECA) in 1993 and 1999.

SUBJECTS

Seven hundred and sixty-five men and women, 75-80 years old, were examined in 1993; of these, 357 (47 %) were followed up in 1999, at age 80-85 years.

RESULTS

At baseline, both dietary GI and GL were significantly inversely associated with PPT scores (P = 0.03 and P = 0.05, respectively). When adjusted for age, BMI, physical activity, self-perceived health, chronic diseases and town/centre, the strength of the associations was attenuated and became non-significant (GI, P = 0.08; GL, P = 0.92). Dietary GI/GL were not associated with PPT scores 6 years later.

CONCLUSIONS

Among elderly Europeans, a high glycaemic diet was associated with a low physical performance at baseline but not 6 years later. Cross-sectional associations may in part be caused by variations in age, BMI, physical activity, self-perceived health, chronic diseases and geographic location.