Abstract
BACKGROUND: Many centenarian offspring (CO) show survival and health advantages compared to population controls, yet little is known about their dietary patterns. The New England Centenarian Study (NECS) offers an opportunity to characterize diet quality in this unique longevity-enriched population. OBJECTIVE: To characterize overall and component-level diet quality among CO in the New England Centenarian Study (NECS) using four established indices and to contextualize these patterns relative to published benchmarks from large U.S. cohorts of older adults. DESIGN: We analyzed data from 457 NECS participants who completed a 131-item food frequency questionnaire in 2005. We computed dietary scores using the Alternative Healthy Eating Index (AHEI), Healthy Eating Index (HEI), Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay (MIND) diet, and Planetary Health Diet Index (PHDI). We performed linear regression to examine whether these scores differ by sex, age, education, and marital status. RESULTS: Participants' mean (SD) age was 73.6 (9.2) years; 55.1% were women. Overall mean (SD) index scores were: AHEI 51.9 (11.0), HEI 70.1 (9.2), MIND 8.6 (1.9), and PHDI 87.1 (12.0), indicating moderate overall diet quality. NECS participants generally met or approached targets for intakes of fruits, greens/beans, and protein-food quality (including seafood), as well as for moderation components such as sodium, added sugar, and refined grains. However, they fell short on intakes of legumes/soy/nuts and whole grains. Compared with nationally representative studies, NECS participants had modestly higher overall dietary scores across the four indices (P < 0.001). NECS participants had higher component scores for intakes of fruits, vegetables, and omega-3 s, but lower scores for whole grains, legumes, and soy. Higher education was consistently associated with healthier diet scores, while younger age and female sex corresponded to more favorable component patterns. CONCLUSION: Centenarian offspring exhibit moderately higher diet quality than average U.S. older adults, with clear strengths and persistent gaps. These findings provide the first reference profile of dietary patterns in a longevity-enriched population and establish a foundation for future longitudinal research on the interaction of nutrition with inherited resilience to support healthy aging.