Diet quality and mortality

A new study from Journal Nutrition shows that diet quality indices assessing compliance with dietary guidelines may be a simple, economical predictor of mortality. Researchers studied 972 participants aged 65 years and older in 1994/1995 and who were followed-up for mortality status until 2008.

Three measures of diet quality were used: the Healthy Diet Score (HDS), the Recommended Food Score (RFS), and the Mediterranean Diet Score (MDS). Data for all-cause mortality adjusted for age, sex, energy intake, social class, region, smoking, physical activity, and BMI.

The Mediterranean Diet Score was significantly associated with lower mortality. The Recommended Food Score was also associated with reduced mortality, albeit on a lesser scale. There were no significant associations for the Healthy Diet Score.

This was the first study to show that simple measures of diet quality using food-based indicators can be useful predictors of longevity.