Schorr Kerstin, Beekman Marian, Agayn Venetka, de Vries Jeanne H M, de Groot Lisette C P G M, Slagboom P Eline
Section of Molecular Epidemiology, Department of Biomedical Data Sciences, Leiden University Medical Center, Einthovenweg 20, 2333 ZC Leiden, The Netherlands.
Innoso BV, Ruychrocklaan 68, 2597 EP The Hague, The Netherlands.
J Nutr Sci. 2025 Aug 4;14:e54. doi: 10.1017/jns.2025.10023. eCollection 2025.
Plant-based diets (PBD) have been found to be environmentally sustainable and beneficial for health. Observational research showed that higher plant-based diet quality improves health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in adult women, however this is unclear for older adults. This association may be due to anti-inflammatory properties of PBD. Older adults, prone to chronic inflammation, may therefore profit from PBD. We investigated the relation between PBD and HRQoL in older adults of both sexes and tested whether the effects are associated with circulating high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) levels. We used data of the population-based Lifelines Cohort Study (n = 6,635, mean age = 65.2 years) and a subsample in which hsCRP was measured (n = 2,251, mean age = 65.2 years). We applied a plant-based diet index measuring adherence to a healthful (hPDI) and an unhealthful (uPDI) plant-based diet based on food frequency questionnaires. The RAND-36 questionnaire was applied as measure of HRQoL, from which we derived physical and mental HRQoL. Older adults with the highest adherence to a hPDI had respectively 15% and 12% greater odds for high physical quality of life and mental quality of life. Meanwhile, higher adherence to uPDI was associated with respectively 16% and 13% lower odds for high physical and mental quality of life. An additive but no interactive effect of hsCRP on the association between PBD and HRQoL has been observed. Adherence to a healthful plant-based diet and circulating levels of inflammation are independently associated with physical and mental HRQoL. Mechanisms other than inflammation through which PBD could influence HRQoL may be explored in further research.
植物性饮食（PBD）已被发现具有环境可持续性且对健康有益。观察性研究表明，较高的植物性饮食质量可改善成年女性与健康相关的生活质量（HRQoL），然而，对于老年人而言，情况尚不清楚。这种关联可能归因于PBD的抗炎特性。因此，容易出现慢性炎症的老年人可能会从PBD中受益。我们调查了PBD与老年男女HRQoL之间的关系，并测试了这些影响是否与循环高敏C反应蛋白（hsCRP）水平相关。我们使用了基于人群的生命线队列研究的数据（n = 6635，平均年龄 = 65.2岁）以及一个测量了hsCRP的子样本（n = 2251，平均年龄 = 65.2岁）。我们基于食物频率问卷应用了一种植物性饮食指数，用于衡量对健康（hPDI）和不健康（uPDI）植物性饮食的依从性。应用兰德36项问卷作为HRQoL的衡量指标，我们从中得出身体和心理HRQoL。对hPDI依从性最高的老年人拥有高身体生活质量和高心理生活质量的几率分别高出15%和12%。同时，对uPDI的更高依从性分别与高身体和心理生活质量的几率降低16%和13%相关。已观察到hsCRP对PBD与HRQoL之间的关联具有相加但无交互作用的影响。坚持健康的植物性饮食和炎症的循环水平与身体和心理HRQoL独立相关。PBD可能通过炎症以外的其他机制影响HRQoL，这一点可在进一步研究中进行探索。
