Advertisement
A Plant-Based Diet May Help You Age Better, But There's A Catch
Staying strong as you age takes more than keeping up with your workouts.
Your diet also helps preserve muscle, balance, and the energy for everyday activities, from climbing stairs to carrying groceries. Plant-based eating often gets a gold star for healthy aging, but does simply eating more plant-rich foods guarantee better health?
A recent study involving thousands of older adults across several countries suggests that the answer depends, in part, on which plant foods you choose.
About the study
Published in Age and Ageing, the research analyzed 8,628 older adults from China, the U.S., and England. A supplementary analysis included another 10,821 participants from a European study.
Researchers created three diet scores to assess participants' eating patterns. The overall plant-based diet score reflected how often people ate plant foods instead of animal foods.
A healthful score gave higher marks to nutritious plant foods, such as vegetables and whole grains, while an unhealthful score favored less nutritious options, such as refined grains and sugary foods.
A higher score meant greater adherence to that particular eating pattern, not necessarily a healthier diet overall.
Researchers also assessed frailty, a gradual decline in health and physical function that can affect strength, mobility, and independence.
They measured it by tallying health deficits across multiple areas rather than looking at a single symptom.
Plant-based eating was linked to lower frailty odds, but quality mattered
Across all three main study groups, higher overall plant-based diet scores were associated with 20% to 29% lower odds of frailty. Higher scores for unhealthful plant-based eating, meanwhile, were associated with 24% to 41% higher odds.
The healthful plant-based diet score was associated with lower frailty odds only among English participants. Researchers didn't find a statistically significant association in the Chinese or U.S. groups, so this potential benefit wasn't consistent across all three populations.
When researchers examined individual foods, vegetables, and nuts stood out as being associated with lower frailty across multiple analyses.
Why food quality matters as you age
A plate of vegetables, beans, nuts, and whole grains offers a different nutritional mix than one filled with fries, refined bread, and sugary cereal, even if both are technically entirely plant-based.
As you age, getting enough protein, vitamins, minerals, and healthy fats helps support muscle maintenance and physical function.
Beans, lentils, tofu, and nuts contribute fiber, protein, and other nutrients, while highly processed plant-based foods may leave less room for these options. That doesn't mean packaged foods are off the menu. It means a vegan or plant-based label alone doesn't really tell you whether a food is nutritious.
How to eat more plants for healthy aging
You don't need to go fully plant-based to put these findings into practice. Focus on adding nutrient-rich plant foods to your meals.
- Make vegetables a staple: Add leafy greens, broccoli, peppers, or other vegetables to meals throughout the day.
- Prioritize protein: Beans, lentils, tofu, and nuts provide plant protein to support muscle maintenance. Eggs, fish, and dairy can contribute if you eat animal products.
- Choose healthy fats: Nuts, seeds, and olive oil provide unsaturated fats that fit into a balanced diet.
- Look beyond the label: Check ingredients and nutrition information instead of relying on claims like "vegan" or "plant-based."
Regular strength training can also help preserve muscle as you age, complementing a nutrient-rich diet to support strength and independence.
The takeaway
Your grocery cart doesn't have to be entirely plant-based to support healthy aging. And our take is that animal proteins have a helpful place in most diets, due to the higher bioavailability of the protein they offer.
Load up on vegetables, nuts, and other nutrient-rich staples, and remember that what you add to your plate can matter just as much as what you leave off.
