Relationship of the Behavior of Older Participants with Body Composition Change: Results of the Second Wave of the Cognition of Older People, Education, Recreational Activities, Nutrition, Comorbidities, and Functional Capacity Studies (COPERNICUS).

BACKGROUND: To examine the relationship between the frequency of physical activities and food product consumption with body composition change after two years in a sample of older people.

METHODS: Body composition, mass change, frequency of physical activity, and food products consumption were measured. Depression severity, health self-assessment, cognitive function, and demographic data were included as confounders.

RESULTS: There were no significant changes in body composition except for a reduction in visceral fat level within two years ( p < 0.05). Drinking beer and eating sweets a few times per week were associated with a significant increase in body fat percentage ( p < 0.05). Drinking green or white tea more frequently than a few times per year was related to an increase in body fat (3.18 to 3.88%, p < 0.05). Contrarily, daily consumption of coffee was related to a decrease in body fat ( p = 0.029). Subjects who ate sweets once a week or more frequently consumed coffee more often.

CONCLUSIONS: More frequent drinking of beer or of green or white tea and consumption of sweets were related to an increase in body fat percentage, while daily coffee consumption was related to a decrease in body fat percentage after two years in older, healthy subjects. Noteworthily, the frequencies of food product consumption are interrelated.