Written by Taylor Woosley, Staff Writer. Caffeine intake was significantly associated with slowness (slow timed up-and-go time) (Ptrend = .003) and weakness (weak handgrip strength) (Ptrend = .053).
With increasing life expectancy and increased years spent with physical frailty, there is a need to comprehend the physiological features of frailty and what drives it1. Frailty is a biological syndrome defined as the decrease in biological functional reserve and resistance to stressors’ physical status, with an increased risk of falls, hospitalization, and death2. Age, sex, social factors, economic factors, malnutrition, low levels of physical activity, and greater time spent in sedentary behavior are known risk factors for frailty3.
Coffee is one of the most consumed beverages worldwide and research has shown that it has many health-promoting benefits4. Coffee exerts prevailing mechanisms such as inhibition of oxidative stress, regulation of DNA repair, phase II enzymatic activity, apoptosis, and inflammation5. Furthermore, coffee has been shown to improve insulin sensitivity, slow the progression of sarcopenia, and maintain muscle mass, which are closely related to physical function and frailty6.
Chua et al. conducted a longitudinal study to investigate the prospective association between caffeine-containing beverage intake (coffee, black tea, and green tea) at midlife and risk of physical frailty later in life. Data used was from the population-based cohort of the Singapore Chinese Healthy Study (SCHS). The final analysis included 12,583 participants (aged 45 to 74 years) who participated in the third follow-up interview. Baseline interviews included subject data on intake of caffeine-containing beverages and food, sociodemographic characteristics, history of comorbidities, smoking history, alcohol consumption, hours of sleep daily, height and weight, physical activity levels, and dietary intake through the completion of a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). The third follow-up interview assessed participants for physical frailty criteria (weight loss, fatigue, slowness, and weakness).
The association between caffeine intake and physical frailty was assessed after separate stratifications for age group at baseline inclusion (<55, ≥55 years) and gender. The mean (SD) age of 12,583 participants at baseline interviews was 53 (5.9) years. At the third follow-up interview, with a mean follow up time of 19.6 years, the mean age was 73 (6.1) years. 68.5% of subjects drank coffee daily, 23.8% drank tea daily, and 36.7% of participants were non-tea drinkers. Significant findings of the study are as follows:
- At midlife, coffee, black tea, and green tea consumption were independently associated with a significantly reduced risk of physical frailty at late life.
- Total daily caffeine intake at midlife was associated with a reduced likelihood of frailty at late life in a dose-dependent manner (Ptrend <.001) after adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics, comorbidities, lifestyle factors, and dietary intake.
- Regarding the association between caffeine intake and the individual criteria of the physical frailty phenotype shows a significant association for slowness (Ptrend = .003) and weakness (weak handgrip strength) (Ptrend = .053).
Results of the study show that higher intake of caffeinated beverages, particularly coffee, black tea, and green tea, at midlife was associated with a reduced risk of physical frailty in late life. Further research should continue to explore the health-promoting benefits of polyphenol-rich coffee and tea. Study limitations include only using dietary data from baseline interviews and the inability to exclude subjects who already were physically frail at baseline.
Source: Chua, Kevin Y., Huiqi Li, Wee-Shiong Lim, and Woon-Puay Koh. “Consumption of Coffee, Tea, and Caffeine at Midlife, and the Risk of Physical Frailty in Late Life.” Journal of the American Medical Directors Association (2023).
© 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of AMDA e The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine. This is an open access article under
the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Click here to read the full text study.
Posted November 21, 2023.
Taylor Woosley studied biology at Purdue University before becoming a 2016 graduate of Columbia College Chicago with a major in Writing. She currently resides in Glen Ellyn, IL.
References:
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- Kawakami R, Tanisawa K, Ito T, et al. Coffee consumption and skeletal muscle mass: WASEDA’S Health Study. Br J Nutr. Jul 14 2023;130(1):127-136. doi:10.1017/s0007114522003099
- Dong X, Li S, Sun J, Li Y, Zhang D. Association of Coffee, Decaffeinated Coffee and Caffeine Intake from Coffee with Cognitive Performance in Older Adults: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2011-2014. Nutrients. Mar 20 2020;12(3)doi:10.3390/nu12030840
- Pang S, Miao G, Zhou Y, Duan M, Bai L, Zhao X. Association between coffee intake and frailty among older American adults: A population-based cross-sectional study. Front Nutr. 2023;10:1075817. doi:10.3389/fnut.2023.1075817
