Healthy eating in the Golden Years

by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research

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Research Profile - June 2007

Dr. Pierrette Gaudreau is co-leading the first long-term study of what Canadians over 70 put on their plates.

"No-one has ever focused a major study squarely on the link between nutrition and healthy ageing in older Canadians," says Dr. Gaudreau a researcher in the Department of Medicine at the University of Montreal. "As our bodies age, we need to eat better to stay healthy, and it's never too late to start."

Currently Canada's Food Guide lumps all adults over the age of 51 into the same category.

The five-year-long, Montreal-based study funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research involves almost 1800 men and women - aged 70, 75 and 80 when the study started in 2003 - with a wide range of dietary habits.

To shine light on the link between nutrition and healthy ageing the unique study is super-sizing the data collection. The researchers are assembling more than a 1000 pieces of information from each participant, each year of the study. More than just daily diet, participants are evaluated for the health of everything from their muscles to their mind, even their social interaction.

Now in its fourth year, the baseline results outline the broad strokes of older Canadians' nutritional differences. For example, twice the number of older women as men regularly take vitamin and mineral supplements. Single men eat less varied diets than married men.

The study is also unique in collecting annual blood, urine and saliva samples. This enables the researchers to analyze more than 50 biomarkers of health, from blood sugar levels to hormones. In October 2006, Dr. Gaudreau and colleagues reported that the initial results already show one clear correlation: Those participants who ate the most antioxidant-rich foods - such as blueberries, Brussels sprouts and red kidney beans - also had the highest blood levels of antioxidants. Antioxidants are thought to protect and repair cells from the wear and tear of metabolism.

Over the next several years more than a dozen researchers at six universities in Quebec and Ontario will pore over the collected data looking for links between diet and a range of health issues, from susceptibility to the flu to cognitive decline, such as the onset of Alzheimer's. The research is co-led by the University of Sherbrooke' Dr. Hélène Payette, Drs. Katherine Gray-Donald and José Morais from McGill University and Dr. Bryna Shatenstein of the University of Montreal.

This study compliments another longitudinal, or long-term, CIHR-funded study on health and ageing. The Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging is examining health patterns and trends and to identify ways to reduce disability and suffering among aging Canadians.

Dr. Gaudreau says she's excited and confident that the results will change the way we eat - and age.

"This is a goldmine of information on the links between nutrition and health in our golden year," she says. "We'll be able to identify the foods that really help you maintain independence and quality of life."