Dietary fat intake and risk of disabling hearing impairment: a prospective population-based cohort study.

PURPOSE: To examine the associations of specific dietary fats with the risk of disabling hearing impairment in the UK Biobank study. METHODS: This cohort study investigated 105,592 participants (47,308 men and 58,284 women) aged ≥ 40 years. Participants completed a minimum of one valid 24-h recall (Oxford Web-Q). Dietary intake of total fatty acids, polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), saturated fatty acids (SFA), and monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) was assessed at baseline. Functional auditory capacity was measured with a digit triplet test (DTT), and disabling hearing impairment was defined as a speech reception threshold in noise > - 3.5 dB in any physical exam performed during the follow-up. RESULTS: Over a median follow-up of 3.2 (SD: 2.1) years, 832 men and 872 women developed disabling hearing impairment. After adjustment for potential confounders, including lifestyles, exposure to high-intensity sounds, ototoxic medication and comorbidity, the hazard ratios (HRs), and 95% confidence interval (CI) of disabling hearing function, comparing extreme quintiles of intakes were 0.91 (0.71-1.17) for total fat, 1.09 (0.83-1.44) for PUFA, 0.85 (0.64-1.13) for SFA and 1.01 (0.74-1.36) for MUFA among men. Among women, HRs comparing extreme intakes were 0.98 (0.78-1.24) for total fat, 0.69 (0.53-0.91) for PUFA, 1.26 (0.96-1.65) for SFA, and 0.91 (0.68-1.23) for MUFA. Replacing 5% of energy intake from SFA with an equivalent energy from PUFA was associated with 25% risk reduction (HR: 0.75; 95% CI: 0.74-0.77) among women. CONCLUSIONS: PUFA intake was associated with decreased risk of disabling hearing function in women, but not in men.

Habitual dietary fat intake and risk of muscle weakness and lower-extremity functional impairment in older adults: A prospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Fatty acid supplementation increases muscle mass and function in older adults, but the effect of habitual dietary intake is uncertain. Therefore, the objective of this study was to examine the association between habitual dietary fat intake and risk of muscle weakness and lower-extremity functional impairment (LEFI) in older adults. METHODS: Prospective study with 1873 individuals aged ≥60 years from the Seniors-ENRICA cohort. In 2008-10 and 2012, a validated face-to-face diet history was used to record the one-year consumption of up to 880 foods. Then, fatty acids, other nutrients and energy intake were estimated using standard food composition tables. Means of intake between these years were calculated to represent cumulative consumption over the follow-up. Study participants were followed up through 2015 to assess incident muscle weakness (lowest quintile of grip strength) and incident LEFI (Short Physical Performance Battery score ≤6). Analyses were performed with Cox regression and adjusted for the main confounders, including other types of fatty acids. RESULTS: Over a median follow-up of 5.2 years, 331 participants developed muscle weakness and 397 LEFI. Intake of saturated fatty acids (SFA) did not show an association with muscle weakness but was associated with higher risk of LEFI (multivariable hazard ratio (HR) for tertile 3 vs. tertile 1: 1.15; 95% confidence interval: 1.05-2.01; p-trend = 0.02). This association was mostly due to consumption of Spanish cold cuts and pastry and, to a lesser extent, dairy. Monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) intake was associated with lower risk of muscle weakness (HR t3 vs. t1: 0.73; 0.54-0.99; p trend = 0.04), and intake of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) was associated with reduced risk of both muscle weakness (0.70; 0.52-0.95; p-trend = 0.02) and LEFI (0.49; 0.35-0.68; p-trend <0.001). Olive oil and blue fish, the main sources of MUFA and PUFA, were also associated with lower risk of muscle weakness and LEFI. CONCLUSIONS: Habitual intake of SFA was associated with increased risk of LEFI. By contrast, habitual intake of MUFA and PUFA were associated with lower risk of physical performance impairment.