ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Nutritional Immunology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1596663
Dietary Antioxidants and Nutritional Risk in the Elderly: Insights from the Composite Dietary Antioxidant Index and Geriatric Nutritional Risk Index
Provisionally accepted
- 1Clinical Research Center, Xiaoshan Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, China
- 2First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, China
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The global increase in the elderly population has heightened the need to address nutritional risks in this vulnerable group. However, the relationship between overall dietary antioxidant intake and nutritional risk in the elderly remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate this association using the composite dietary antioxidant index (CDAI) and the geriatric nutritional risk index (GNRI).We analyzed data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2010-2018), focusing on 4,208 participants aged ≥65 years. CDAI was calculated based on the intake of vitamins A, C, E, selenium, zinc, and carotenoids, while GNRI was derived from serum albumin and body weight. Multivariate regression models were employed to assess associations between CDAI, individual dietary antioxidants, and GNRI. Smooth curve fitting and two-piecewise linear regression were further performed to identify the non-linear relationships and determine the corresponding inflection points.Results: A statistically significant positive correlation was observed between the CDAI and GNRI, indicating that increased dietary antioxidant intake is linked to reduced nutritional risk.Vitamin C, selenium, zinc, and carotenoids were strongly associated with higher GNRI scores, with vitamin C and zinc showing the most robust effects. Subgroup analyses further revealed that men, diabetic individuals, and those without cancer exhibited greater improvements in nutritional risk with higher CDAI levels. Threshold effect analysis identified an optimal range for CDAI, beyond which the nutritional benefits diminished.Our findings highlight the critical role of dietary antioxidants, especially vitamin C and zinc, in mitigating nutritional risk among the elderly. These results support the importance of balanced dietary intake of antioxidants to optimize nutritional health in aging populations.
Keywords: dietary intake, Nutritional risk, Aged, antioxidant, Nutrition survey
Received: 20 Mar 2025; Accepted: 26 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhu, Han and Chen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Huafang Chen, First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, China
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