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Purpose: The study aimed to investigate the independent associations of dietary factors with cognitive impairment (CI) and physical frailty (PF) among Chinese older adults. Methods: This study included 10,734 participants (mean age = 78.7 years) free of CI and PF at baseline from the Chinese Longitudinal Health Longevity Survey. Dietary intake was collected using a simplified food frequency questionnaire every 3–4 years. The Chinese version Mini-Mental State Examination was used to assess cognition function, participants with a score below 18 were defined as CI. PF was defined using the activities of daily living, instrumental activities of daily living, and functional limitation-related questions. The outcome was defined as the first onset of either CI or PF. Competing risk models were used to estimate the corresponding hazard ratios (HRs) and the 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs). Results: During the study follow-up (mean = 8.1 years), a total of 1220 CI cases and 1451 PF cases were newly identified. Higher frequency of fruits intake was associated with a lower hazard of CI (HR = 0.75, 95% CI 0.58–0.97), whereas higher intake of preserved vegetables demonstrated an opposite association (HR = 1.23, 95% CI 1.07–1.42). In terms of PF, we observed a lower risk associated with higher meat and poultry intake (HR = 0.72, 95% CI 0.61–0.88). In particular, a significant protective association of fish and aquatic products intake with PF was observed among participants with ≥ 28 natural teeth (HR = 0.52, 95% CI 0.27–0.99). Conclusion: Our findings suggest divergent roles of major dietary factors in the development of CI and PF among Chinese older adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]