Li Yuan, Gong Qin, He Weixiu, Ke Junhua
Department of Comprehensive Rehabilitation, Rehabilitation Hospital, Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Fuzhou, 350003, China.
Department of Orthopedic Rehabilitation, Rehabilitation Hospital, Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Fuzhou, 350003, China.
BMC Geriatr. 2025 Feb 11;25(1):91. doi: 10.1186/s12877-025-05725-y.
Diet plays a crucial part in maintaining a healthy body, and microbes, as an essential dietary component, have attracted more attention in recent years. In this study, we will explore the link between dietary intake of live microbes and frailty in the elderly.
Older participants from the 1999-2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) who were not less than 60 years of age were enrolled in this research. Participants' dietary microbe intake was assessed by a self-report questionnaire. Participants were stratified into low, medium, and high intake groups according to their consumption of foods with varying microbial content. The frailty index was assessed by 49 frailty indicators. Frailty was defined as a frailty index > 0.21. Logistic regression was used to analyze the link between dietary intake of live microbes and frailty in older adults.
A total of 15,179 older adults' basic information was collected for this study. The frailty index was higher than 0.21 in 32.8% of participants. Older adults with low, medium, and high dietary microbe intake accounted for 33.5%, 47.0%, and 19.5%, respectively. In models adjusted for confounders, the prevalence of frailty was lower in participants with the medium (OR = 0.825, 95%CI: 0.749-0.908) and high (OR = 0.779, 95%CI: 0.679-0.894) dietary microbe intake groups, compared with in participants with the lowest intake group. The RCS analysis revealed a significant non-linear association between dietary live microbe intake and frailty prevalence, with the strongest reduction observed below an inflection point of 161.82 (P for non-linearity < 0.05). In addition, stratified analyses did not reveal interactions between the study variables.
This study demonstrates a negative and non-linear association between dietary live microbe intake and frailty in older adults. These findings provide evidence of a potential link between live microbe intake and frailty, warranting further longitudinal and interventional studies to explore this relationship and its implications for healthy aging.
饮食在维持身体健康方面起着至关重要的作用，而微生物作为饮食的重要组成部分，近年来受到了更多关注。在本研究中，我们将探讨老年人饮食中摄入活微生物与身体虚弱之间的联系。
本研究纳入了1999 - 2018年国家健康与营养检查调查（NHANES）中年龄不小于60岁的老年参与者。通过自我报告问卷评估参与者的饮食微生物摄入量。根据参与者对不同微生物含量食物的消费情况，将其分为低、中、高摄入量组。通过49项身体虚弱指标评估虚弱指数。虚弱定义为虚弱指数>0.21。采用逻辑回归分析老年人饮食中摄入活微生物与身体虚弱之间的联系。
本研究共收集了15179名老年人的基本信息。32.8%的参与者虚弱指数高于0.21。饮食微生物摄入量低、中、高的老年人分别占33.5%、47.0%和19.5%。在调整混杂因素的模型中，与摄入量最低组的参与者相比，饮食微生物摄入量为中（OR = 0.825，95%CI：0.749 - 0.908）和高（OR = 0.779，95%CI：0.679 - 0.894）组的参与者虚弱患病率较低。限制立方样条（RCS）分析显示，饮食中活微生物摄入量与虚弱患病率之间存在显著的非线性关联，在拐点161.82以下观察到最强的降低趋势（非线性P<0.05）。此外，分层分析未发现研究变量之间的相互作用。
本研究表明老年人饮食中摄入活微生物与身体虚弱之间存在负向非线性关联。这些发现为活微生物摄入与身体虚弱之间的潜在联系提供了证据，有必要进一步开展纵向和干预性研究，以探索这种关系及其对健康老龄化的影响。
