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Tea consumption and physical function in older adults: A cross-sectional study

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The journal of nutrition, health & aging

Abstract

Background

Tea consumption has been reported to be associated with lowered risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke and osteoporosis that cause functional disability, but its association with physical function has not been investigated directly.

Objective

We examined the association between tea consumption and performance in gait and balance, instrumental and basic activities of daily living (IADL and BADL) in a cross-sectional study of community-living older persons.

Method

Baseline data of 2398 adults aged ≥ 55 years in the Singapore Longitudinal Ageing Studies who completed self-reported current tea consumption, Performance Oriented Mobility Assessment (POMA) of gait and balance, and self reports of BADL and IADL were analyzed.

Results

In multivariate analyses controlling for age, gender, education, housing type, co-morbidities, hospitalization, arthritis and hip fracture, GDS depression score, MMSE cognitive score, body mass index, creatinine, serum albumin, haemoglobin, physical activities score and coffee consumption, tea consumption was positively associated with better balance (β=0.06, p<0.01), gait (β=0.01, p=0.02), IADL (β=0.03, p=0.01) and BADL (β=0.01, p=0.05). Strongly positive associations were observed for black/oolong tea in multivariate analyses, and for green tea consumption only in univariate analysis, whereas coffee consumption was not associated at all.

Conclusions

Tea consumption was associated with better physical functional performances in community-living older adults.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Gerontological Research Programme, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    Tze-Pin Ng, K. C. Y. Aung, L. Feng, L. Feng, M. S. Z. Nyunt & K. B. Yap

  2. Department of Psychological Medicine, National University Hospital System, Singapore, Singapore

    Tze-Pin Ng, K. C. Y. Aung, L. Feng, L. Feng & M. S. Z. Nyunt

  3. Department of Geriatric Medicine, Alexandra Hospital, Singapore, Singapore

    K. B. Yap

  4. Gerontological Research Programme, National University of Singapore, Department of Psychological Medicine, NUHS Tower Block, 9th Floor, 1E Kent Ridge Road, Singapore, 119228, Singapore

    Tze-Pin Ng

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  1. Tze-Pin Ng
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  2. K. C. Y. Aung
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Correspondence to Tze-Pin Ng.

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Ng, TP., Aung, K.C.Y., Feng, L. et al. Tea consumption and physical function in older adults: A cross-sectional study. J Nutr Health Aging 18, 161–166 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12603-013-0354-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12603-013-0354-7

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