Men who eat a healthy diet cut risk of physical impairment by 25 percent
A person’s ability to maintain independence and physically care for themselves is an essential part of healthy aging. But few studies have examined how diet may allow some aging people to maintain physical function — everyday tasks such as bathing, getting dressed, carrying groceries, or walking up a flight of stairs — while others’ abilities diminish. A new study by investigators from Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital examines the role of a healthy diet and finds that this highly modifiable factor can have a large influence on maintaining physical function, lowering the likelihood of developing physical impairment by approximately 25 percent. The team’s findings are published in The Journal of Nutrition, Health and Aging. “Diet can have specific effects on our health and can also affect our well-being and physical independence as we get older,” said senior author Francine Grodstein of the Channing Division of Network Medicine at the Brigham Hospital. “What excites...