Women’s healthy aging: High-quality carbs linked to enhanced physical and cognitive function

A new study finds that dietary carbohydrate quality is a promising factor in promoting healthy aging in women. This positive association challenges the idea that all dietary carbohydrates are negatively associated with chronic disease risk and all-cause mortality. Nutrition Insight speaks to the study’s co-author about how carbohydrates are important for older adults. 

“Consuming high-quality carbohydrates is favorably linked with healthy aging, and on the same line, consuming carbohydrates from refined sources, such as refined grains or added sugars, is linked to lower chances of becoming a healthy ager,” says Andres V. Ardisson Korat, Sc.D., Scientist II at Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University, US.

“Our findings are relevant to inform prevention strategies across multiple domains of healthy aging. For instance, the protective role of high carbohydrate quality and dietary fiber intake in chronic disease prevention is well established; however, our study observed that these associations extend to promoting good physical and cognitive function and mental well-being in older adulthood.”

He underlines that eating high-quality carbohydrates from fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes, as well as dietary fiber, is linked to good health in later life.

Growing aging population

With a rising aging population in the US, expected to double in the next four decades, older women bear a disproportionate burden of chronic disease and declining physical and chronic function, the researchers point out.

High-quality carbs from fruits, vegetables, and whole grains support healthy aging in women.They add that carbohydrates make up half of energy intake in US diets, but only 8% consist of high-quality carbohydrates. Previous research shows that a high carbohydrate-to-fiber ratio is linked to higher risks of all-cause and cardiovascular disease mortality; however, the researchers note this has not been examined in the context of healthy aging.

The publication in JAMA Nutrition, Obesity, and Exercise, examined 47,513 women from the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS) from January 1984 to December 2016, and used data from participants that were younger than 60 in 1984. The researchers analyzed this data for more than two years.

These women filled out food frequency questionnaires, and healthy aging outcomes were defined as the absence of chronic diseases, lack of cognitive and physical function impairments, and good mental health. The results reveal that 3,706 (7.8%) met this healthy aging definition.

Ardisson Korat notes that high-quality carbohydrates were found to have benefits beyond chronic disease prevention — including physical and cognitive function and mental well-being — which was surprising but also consistent with two previous studies.

“However, the mechanisms behind these associations are just being explored. Consumption of lower carbohydrate quality foods (as measured by the glycemic index) has been associated with a higher prevalence of depressive symptoms.”

“However, this has not been looked at in the context of aging, and we need additional studies to understand the mechanisms behind these associations.”

Replacing refined carbs and unhealthy fats with fiber-rich foods improves physical and cognitive function.The study highlights that a person’s glycemic load shows their glucose response to the quantity of carbohydrate intake and its glycemic index. These factors have been evaluated in relation to health outcomes, but their role in healthy aging remains inconclusive.

Maintain calorie intake and increase high-quality carbs

The study associates an increased high-quality carbohydrate intake and consistent total calorie intake with healthier aging.

“In our Table 3, we conducted our analyses in the context of keeping total calories constant. Therefore, increasing high-quality carbohydrate intake at the expense of other calories has a beneficial association with healthy aging,” details Ardisson Korat.

“Then, to dig deeper into specific macronutrient substitutions, we modeled specific isocaloric replacements. We observed that increasing high-quality carbohydrates while decreasing the same calories from refined carbohydrates, animal protein, total fat, and trans fat was favorably associated with healthy aging.”

When comparing calories from plant protein and polyunsaturated fatty acids, no significant associations were found, notes Ardisson Korat. 

Study links better carbohydrate quality — not quantity — to women’s long-term health and vitality.“This means there are inherent benefits to the consumption of high-quality carbohydrates, and those become stronger when replacing other components of the diet (i.e., refined carbohydrates) that are unfavorably associated with healthy aging.”

Widening population study

The researchers reveal that the study sample consisted of well-educated participants who consumed a higher portion of high-quality carbohydrates than the general US population. This may limit the findings’ accuracy and generalizability to populations with different characteristics.

Although the study had strengths, Ardisson Korat says the team would like to further evaluate the role of carbohydrates in healthy aging in other populations to verify their findings, specifically among men and populations not represented in the current study.

“Also, while the mechanisms linking dietary carbohydrate quality and fiber intake with chronic diseases have been elucidated, we need to understand the pathways by which these nutrients influence physical and cognitive function and mental health in older adulthood.”

“Overall, it is important to continue looking for dietary factors that influence our ability to age healthfully,” Ardisson Korat concludes.