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Aging and Chronic Disease (Poster Session)

(P22-027-25) The Association Between Vegetarian Diet and Healthy Aging Among Chinese Older Adults

Monday, June 2, 2025
11:45 AM – 12:45 PM ET
Location: Poster Board B-52

    Presenting Author(s)

  • Guliyeerke Jigeer, MD (she/her/hers)

    Phd Student
    Fudan University
    Shanghai, Shanghai, China (People's Republic)

    • Co-Author(s)

  • KW

    Kaiyue Wang, MSc

    Department of Nutrition and Food Hygiene, School of Public Health, Institute of Nutrition, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
    Shanghai, Shanghai, China (People's Republic)

  • YL

    Yuebin Lv

    China CDC Key Laboratory of Environment and Population Health, China (People's Republic)

  • Katherine L. Tucker, PhD (she/her/hers)

    Professor, Director of the Center for Population Health
    University of Massachusetts Lowell
    Zuckerberg College of Health Sciences
    Lowell, Massachusetts, United States

  • YL

    Yaqi Li (she/her/hers)

    Assistant professor
    Department of Nutrition and Food Hygiene, School of Public Health, Institute of Nutrition, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
    Shanghai, Shanghai, China (People's Republic)

  • FC

    Fan Chen

    Fudan University, China (People's Republic)

  • XS

    Xiaoming Shi

    China CDC Key Laboratory of Environment and Population Health, China (People's Republic)

  • XS

    Xiuhua Shen

    Xinhua Hospital, China (People's Republic)

  • LS

    Liang Sun

    Fudan University

  • XG

    Xiang Gao

    Fudan University

Disclosure(s):
Guliyeerke Jigeer, MD: No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.


Objectives: Vegetarian diets have become increasingly popular worldwide. Whilst there is substantial evidence that vegetarian diets reduce risks of some chronic conditions among younger adults, their effects on healthy aging in older adults remain unexplored. We aimed to examine vegetarian diets and the likelihood of achieving healthy aging among older Chinese adults.

Methods: A prospective study was performed using data from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey, a nationally representative community-based cohort. Included were 2,888 participants who met the following health criteria: free of major chronic diseases, presented with normal physical and cognitive function, and had good psychological status at baseline. Dietary intake at baseline and at 60 years of age was collected with a simplified non-quantitative food frequency questionnaire and dietary patterns (i.e., vegan, ovo-vegetarian, pesco-vegetarian and omnivorous) were derived. The primary outcome was healthy aging, a dichotomous variable defined as reaching at least 80 years of age with preserved performance in all four aforementioned aspects of health during the follow-up. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to evaluate associations between vegetarian diets and likelihood of achieving healthy aging.

Results: During a median follow-up of 6 years, vegetarians had lower odds of achieving healthy aging (adjusted OR=0.65, 95% CI: 0.47 - 0.89), relative to omnivores, and this association remained significant in several sensitivity analyses. This association persisted across three individual components of healthy aging (major chronic disease, physical and cognitive performance). Compared to participants maintaining vegetarian diets, participants adhering to omnivorous diets were 78% more likely to achieve healthy aging.

Conclusions: Healthy older adults adhering to vegetarian diets had lower odds of healthy aging relative to those with omnivorous diets, suggesting that modest introduction of animal-based foods may improve the overall health status of healthy older adults.

Funding Sources: The key projects in the three-year plan of Shanghai municipal public health system (2023–2025), GWVI-4 and GWVI-11.1-42, the Startup grant at Fudan University JIF201018Y and JIF201015Y.