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Although total plasma homocysteine (tHcy) has been extensively studied as a risk factor of CVD, longitudinal evidence on its association with mortality is scarce, especially among the elderly. The study cohort consisted of 215 subjects (eighty-eight male and 127 female), aged 60 years or older, recruited in fourteen elderly care institutions from Asturias (Spain). All participants were free of major chronic pathology and took no vitamin and/or mineral supplements. Baseline determinations included tHcy in plasma and folate, vitamin B12 and Se in serum. Survival analyses were performed by quintiles of these factors after 6 years (mean follow-up time 4.3 years) by means of Cox regression models. During follow-up time sixty participants died. tHcy above 16.7 micromol/l was associated with an increased risk of mortality in the sample (relative risk 2.30 (95 % CI 1.02, 5.17)). Among the nutritional determinants of tHcy evaluated, folate and Se were not predictive of death risk of the cohort, while vitamin B12 showed inconsistent results. Nevertheless, mortality was significantly lower at higher serum Se levels (upper quintile), but this effect was restricted to women. Higher tHcy in both sexes and lower serum Se in women were found to be independently associated with an increased risk of death in elderly subjects.

Background and Aims: Selenium is of fundamental importance to human health. Our aim was to evaluate the effect of selenium (intake and serum levels) on subjective indicators of quality of life in older people, such as self-perceived health, chewing ability and physical activity., Methods: The sample was a cohort of 227 elderly people (93 men and 134 women) residing in 14 nursing homes in Asturias (Spain). Mean age +/- SD was 72.9+/-7.2 y and 76.4+/-5.9 y, for men and women respectively. Information was collected in personal interviews. Dietary intake was recorded by means of a food-frequency questionnaire. Selenium was determined in serum by graphite-furnace atomic absorption spectrometry., Results: Serum selenium was associated with self-perceived health, chewing ability and physical activity in this sample. Subjects in the upper tertile of serum selenium had more than twice as much probability (Odds Ratios, 2.05 to 3.157) of reporting good health status, good chewing ability and of doing more than 60 min of exercise/day., Conclusions: The maintenance of good serum selenium levels is important, since it may affect the self-perception of health, chewing ability, or physical activity and, consequently, the quality of life in elderly people.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess the association between dietary intake and lipid peroxidation., Design: Cross-sectional population analysis from an ongoing prospective study. Malondialdehyde (MDA) was measured as a marker of lipid peroxidation. Diet was assessed through direct observation and food frequency questionnaire., Subjects: Participants with no missing data were 162 nonsmoking elderly individuals residing in 7 institutions across Asturias (Spain)., Statistical Analyses Performed: Comparisons of adjusted group means by tertiles of plasma MDA were made by analysis of variance. Stepwise regression analysis was done using MDA as a dependent variable and food intake as an independent variable. Food intakes were categorized into quartiles and logistic regression was applied to calculate the odds ratio for being in the highest tertile of plasma MDA., Results: Consumption of potatoes had an independent direct effect and accounted for a sizeable proportion of the variation in plasma MDA levels (18%, P<.001). In addition to potatoes, other foods that had an apparently independent effect on plasma MDA were eggs, cooked vegetables, and red wine (R(2)=0.028, 0.023 and 0.018, respectively). In this study, dietary factors accounted for 25% of the variation in plasma MDA levels., Conclusion: Identifying nutritional determinants of oxidative stress is important because of its negative health effect. Consumption of cooked vegetables and moderate intake of wine has been shown to be appropriate for reducing the risk of oxidative damage. On the contrary, caution must be used with the intake of potatoes because we have found a positive association with MDA levels. Further studies are required to investigate the mechanism(s) of this association and whether it is related to the preparation method or to the potato itself.

An inverse relation between education and health has been reported, suggesting the importance of examining the underlying mechanism of this association. We examined whether cardiovascular risk factors, diet, and indicators of quality of life (mood, self-perceived health, social relationships, self-rated sensory, and dental adequacy) vary according to educational level among 352 old people (65-95 years old) in the city of Oviedo (Northern Spain). Lower educational level (LE) was associated with unhappiness, poor social relationships, poor self-assessed health, and sensory, and masticatory problems. LE elderly consumed less vegetables and meat products and more carbohydrates. LE women had a lower contribution of proteins and lipids to their total energy intake as well as a lower vitamin A intake. Except for hypercholesterolemia, no differences were found for the cardiovascular risk factors studied. The educational level of old people has a strong influence on their quality of life, nutrient intake and food consumption. These findings may provide part of the explanation for the social gradient in mortality.

Background: In studies from Italy and Greece, a Mediterranean dietary pattern was shown to favorably affect life expectancy in the elderly population. This pattern is thought to reduce the risk of cancer in addition to being cardioprotective., Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the interactive effects of the Mediterranean diet and age with respect to survival after controlling for several other variables that could be considered as confounders: age, sex, body mass index, albumin concentration, physical activity, self-assessment of health, and dieting in response to chronic conditions., Design: This was a cohort study involving 161 nonsmoking elderly subjects (74 subjects aged <80 y and 87 subjects aged > or =80 y) living in Spain. The subjects were followed up for > or =9 y. Diet was assessed with a semiquantitative food-frequency questionnaire., Results: A diet score based on 8 characteristics of the traditional diet in the Mediterranean region was associated with a significant reduction in overall mortality in elderly subjects aged <80 y but not in subjects aged > or =80 y. A unit increase in the diet score predicted a 31% reduction in mortality in subjects aged <80 y (95% CI: 7%, 57%)., Conclusion: Efforts to promote adherence to the Mediterranean dietary pattern appear to be worthwhile in persons aged <80 y, in whom the diet predicts survival, but we do not have any available evidence that such a diet benefits subjects aged > or =80 y.