(1) Objective: To examine the association between posterior-derived dietary patterns, food variety, and frailty measured by frailty index (FI) in Chinese elderly. (2) Method: A cohort study based on the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS) from 2014 to 2018 was conducted among older adults. The food variety was defined by the food variety score (FVS), which was calculated using the frequency of food categories consumption. Dietary patterns were obtained using factor analysis. A FI composed of 38 health deficits was used to measure subjects' frailty status. Logistic regression analyses were performed to explore the correlation between dietary factors and the incidence of frailty. (3) Results: Compared with low FVS, a high dietary diversity score at baseline was not associated with a reduced incidence of frailty after four years. Regarding long-term food variety, compared with the low variety maintained group, people with high variety maintained were associated with a lower risk of frailty (0.59, 95%CI 0.39-0.90). Adherence to the "egg-bean-pickle-sugar pattern" and "fruit-vegetable-meat-fish pattern" was associated with a lower risk of frailty. (4) Conclusion: Maintaining high food variety and adherence to two patterns, i.e., the egg-bean-pickle-sugar pattern and fruit-vegetable-meat-fish pattern, could reduce the incidence of frailty among Chinese older adults.
Keywords: dietary patterns; food variety; frailty index; the elderly.