Mediterranean drinking pattern may lower risk of frailty in older adults

This unique, prospective study of older Spanish adults showed that particular drinking patterns – drinking only with meals and the Mediterranean drinking patternThe Mediterranean diet, which includes moderate consumption of wine, is considered ... were linked to a lower risk of frailty.

No previous study has assessed the association between alcohol-drinking patterns and risk of frailty (*) in older adults. Spanish researchers therefore carried out a prospective cohort study with 2,086 community-dwelling individuals aged 60 and older, recruited in 2008-2010, and followed them through 2012. The results showed that individuals with a Mediterranean drinking pattern – that is an alcohol intake less than 40g/day for men and less than 24g/day for women with wine preference (≥ 80% of alcohol proceeds from wine) and drinking only with meals –  had a 32 % lower risk of frailty compared with alcohol abstinence.

Ortolá R, García-Esquinas E, León-Muñoz LM, et al. Patterns of Alcohol Consumption and Risk of FrailtyFrailty is a clinical syndrome characterized by an age-related decline of multiple physiological fun... in Community-dwelling Older Adults. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2016;71(2):251-8.

http://biomedgerontology.oxfordjournals.org/content/71/2/251.abstract

For more information about this article, read the scientific abstract here.

(*) FrailtyFrailty is a clinical syndrome characterized by an age-related decline of multiple physiological fun... is a clinical syndrome characterized by an age-related decline of multiple physiological functions leading to a higher vulnerability to even minimal stressors.