Ready-meal consumption in older people: association with obesity and dietary intake

ObjectiveTo investigate ready-meal consumption trends in older French people, its association with overall diet quality and obesity.DesignCross-sectional analysisSettingMultidomain Alzheimer Preventive Trial (MAPT), FranceSubjects421 MAPT participants (mean age 76.8years) who filled a food frequency questionnaire.ResultsThe frequency of ready-meal consumption was low, with nearly 90% of participants declaring consuming1 ready-meal per week. Compared to non- and low-consumers (1 ready-meal/week), regular consumers (2 ready-meals/week) were older (p<0.01), more often frail and pre-frail (p 0.04), with impaired cognition (p=0.02) and functional status (p=0.02), with more depressive symptoms (p=0.03) and more difficulties with preparing meals (p=0.01). Results from multivariate analyses showed that regular ready-meal consumption was not associated with obesity (p=0.26) and diet quality (p=0.37).ConclusionsIn our sample, few older people declared consumption of 2 or more ready-meals per week, this consumption was not associated with a higher prevalence of obesity or a lower diet quality, despite the fact that these subject were older, with a lower physical and cognitive status. These findings suggest that, for these people with difficulties in meal preparation, convenience foods consumed occasionally could help to maintain diet quality and weight status.