Seniors: Eat More Vitamins, Lower Your Risk of Frailty

A recent study has linked eating a vitamin-rich, balanced diet with a lower risk of developing frailty for adults age 65 and up. The research comes from the School of Medicine at Universidad de La Frontera in Chile.  The study looked at over 1,600 adults over the age of 65, none of which had developed frailty as they got older.  All of the participants offered in-depth information about their diet and food habits.  After the end of a follow-up period of about 3.5 years, 5.4% of participants (89 adults) had developed frailty.  Frailty is defined as a lowered amount of physiological health and functioning.  It often includes issues like fatigue, weakness, low activity, and slowness.  Most people expect older adults to develop frailty as a byproduct of old age, but frailty isn't totally age-dependent.  The Chilean study revealed that the seniors with the lowest levels of vitamin B6 at the beginning were 2.8 times likelier to develop some measure of frailty by the end of the research period.  This is in comparison with participants who regularly ate vitamin B6-rich foods like bananas, sweet potatoes, fish, tofu, and chicken.  Additionally, participants with the lowest vitamin E levels were 2.3 times likelier to develop some kind of frailty as opposed to those adults with diets rich in vitamin E.  Finally, the seniors who ate the least amount of vitamin C were 93% likelier to become frail than their counterparts who regularly ate vitamin C-packed foods like dark leafy greens, broccoli, and lemons.