Alliaceae vegetable consumption and sarcopenia: findings from the TCLSIH cohort study†

Abstract

Background and aims: Sarcopenia is a progressive and degenerative loss of muscle mass and function in the elderly that is associated with increased adverse outcomes. Organosulfur compounds, obtained from Alliaceae vegetables, could protect skeletal muscle from atrophy because of their antioxidative and anti-inflammatory effects. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the association between Alliaceae vegetable consumption and sarcopenia in the general elderly population. Methods: This study used data from the TCLSIH cohort study (2017–2022). Alliaceae vegetable consumption was assessed using a validated self-administered food frequency questionnaire. Sarcopenia was defined using the Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia algorithm. Multiple logistic regression and Cox proportional hazards regression models were used for the cross-sectional analysis (n = 3623) and the prospective incident analysis (n = 1913), respectively. Results: There were 546 (15.1%) sarcopenic cases at baseline and 302 (56.1 per 1000 person years) incident sarcopenic cases over a mean follow-up of 2.8 years. In Model 4, the hazard ratios (HRs) (95% confidence interval [CI]) for incident sarcopenia across raw garlic consumption categories were 1.00 (reference) for almost never, 0.70 (0.53, 0.93) for ≤1 time per week, and 0.59 (0.44, 0.80) for ≥2–3 times per week (P for trend < 0.001); the HRs (95% CI) for sarcopenia across onion consumption categories were 1.00 (reference) for almost never, 0.71 (0.53, 0.97) for ≤1 time per week, and 0.73 (0.54, 0.97) for ≥2–3 times per week (P for trend = 0.02). Similar results were also observed in the cross-sectional analysis. Conclusion: The consumption of Alliaceae vegetables, including garlic and onion, is inversely associated with prevalent and incident sarcopenia. Further studies are needed to explore the causality.