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Nutrition, Physical Activity, Frailty, and Cognitive Decline in Older Adults: Addressing Age-Related Health

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Prof. Dr. Shuzo Kumagai

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Guest Editor

Kumagai Institute of Health Policy, Fukuoka, Japan
Interests: physical activity epidemiology; exercise physiology; public health; health promotion; geriatrics; physical frailty;cognitive frailty; cognitive function; exercise intervention

Prof. Dr. Rengfei Shi

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Guest Editor

School of Exercise and Health, Shanghai University of Sport, Shanghai,China
Interests: nutrition; dietary patterns; physical activity; obesity; sarcopenia; older adults

Dr. Si Chen

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Guest Editor

School of Nursing and Rehabilitation, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, China
Interests: frailty; physical activity; sedentary behavior; dietary patterns; older adults

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In an aging of the world, various changes will occur in lifestyle behavior in daily life. In particular, nutritional problems cause weight loss due to reductions in energy intake against the backdrop of various factors. Reductions in energy consumption due to a decrease in physical activity and an increase in sedentary behavior, and the associated decline in physical fitness and motor function that comes with this, induce the onset of frailty, which leads to cognitive decline and the onset of dementia. In this Special Issue, in addition to the involvement of nutrition and physical activity in the onset of frailty and cognitive decline, we focus on lifestyle factors as contributors to improvement and summarize the latest scientific findings. Specifically, the following contents are included:

Frailty, cognitive function, and lifestyle factors such as nutrition, physical activity, and sedentary behavior in the elderly, and proposals for health issues that need to be addressed;
The involvement and mechanisms of nutrition, physical activity, and sedentary behavior as factors in the development of frailty and cognitive decline;
The prevention and improvement of frailty and cognitive decline through nutrition and physical activity interventions, and their mechanisms.

Prof. Dr. Shuzo Kumagai
Prof. Dr. Rengfei Shi
Dr. Si Chen
Guest Editors

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18 pages, 825 KB

Open AccessArticle

Composite Meal-Related Behaviors and Health Indicators: Insight from Large-Scale Nationwide Data on Korean Adults

by Seongryu Bae and Hyuntae Park

Nutrients 2025, 17(18), 2982; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu17182982 - 17 Sep 2025

Abstract

Objectives: Multidimensional dietary patterns provide a more comprehensive assessment of meal-related behavior than single behaviors, yet evidence on their variation across adulthood and association with health factors relevant to healthy aging is limited. This study examined meal-related behavior pattern distribution by age and identified predictors of unhealthy patterns. Methods: Data from 47,332 adults aged ≥ 18 years in the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2014–2022) were analyzed. Participants were divided into three age groups: young adults (18–39 years), middle-aged adults (40–64 years), and older adults (≥65 years). Within each age group, participants were further classified into three categories based on their adherence to three key meal-related behaviors: High adherence (all three behaviors: regular breakfast, shared mealtimes, and infrequent eating out), Moderate adherence (two behaviors), or Low adherence (one or none). Group differences in sociodemographic, clinical variables, nutrient intake, biochemical markers, and lifestyle factors were tested using ANOVA and Pearson’s chi-square, and predictors were identified with multinomial logistic regression. Results: Older adults most frequently showed the High adherence group (51.1%) but had the lowest prevalence of shared mealtimes (66.3%), suggesting social vulnerabilities despite healthy individual habits. Young adults had the highest Low pattern prevalence, which was primarily driven by infrequent breakfast and frequent eating out. Across all ages, poorer patterns were consistently associated with living alone, prolonged sedentary time, and adverse metabolic profiles. Middle-aged adults exhibited moderate adherence to healthy behaviors but showed the highest prevalence of chronic disease. In older adults, poorer patterns were associated with lower intakes of energy, carbohydrate, protein, and dietary fiber intake, alongside higher rates of living alone and sedentary behavior. Conclusions: Composite meal-related behaviors differed across age groups as follows: Young adults most frequently exhibited low adherence, middle-aged adults showed moderate adherence but bore the highest burden of chronic diseases, while older adults demonstrated high breakfast adherence and low frequency of eating out, but faced nutritional insufficiency and social vulnerability. These findings suggest the need for personalized interventions for each age group. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nutrition, Physical Activity, Frailty, and Cognitive Decline in Older Adults: Addressing Age-Related Health)

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