Association between vegetarian diet and risk of frailty in Chinese older adults: a prospective study - 2025

this study aimed to investigate the association between vegetarian diet and risk of frailty in a nationwide representative cohort of Chinese community-dwelling older adults (≥ 65 years old).

During a median follow-up of 3.0 (IQR: 1.83–5.33) years, vegetarians showed a higher risk of incident frailty (HR [95% CI]: 1.13 [1.07, 1.20]) compared to omnivores. Similar patterns were observed across subgroups of vegetarian diet, including pesco-vegetarians (HR [95% CI]: 1.15 [1.05, 1.26]), ovo-lacto-vegetarians (HR [95% CI]: 1.11 [1.02, 1.20]), and vegans (HR [95% CI]: 1.12 [1.01, 1.25]). In terms of diet trajectory, maintaining vegetarian diets (HR [95% CI]: 1.19 [1.03, 1.38]), transition from the omnivorous diet to vegetarian diets (HR [95% CI]: 1.16 [1.04, 1.30]), and transition from vegetarian diets to the omnivorous diet (HR [95% CI]: 1.14 [1.02, 1.27]) were all associated with higher risks of frailty, compared with maintaining an omnivorous diet.

In this prospective study, vegetarian diets were observed to be associated with higher frailty risk, compared to the omnivorous diet in Chinese older adults. Future research is needed to confirm our observations.

Full Paper: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-025-04232-6