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Nutrition

The TILDA Nutrition Working Group is interested in all aspects of nutrition and well-being in older adults.

Optimal nutritional status is a key component of healthy ageing with micro and macro nutrients essential for the prevention for the chronic diseases of ageing ranging from diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cognitive decline, inflammation and frailty.

Within the TILDA Nutrition Working Group, we utilise this nationally representative and longitudinal study of community-living people aged 50 and over to explore food patterns, vitamin biomarkers (including vitamins D, B12 and folate) and the links with age-related conditions and disease.

TILDA Researchers

Aisling O’Halloran

Dr. Aisling O’Halloran the research lead on both the Frailty and Biomarker Working Groups within TILDA and also manages the TILDA Biobank, the largest of its kind in the Rep. of Ireland.

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TILDA Researchers

Deirdre O'Connor

Deirdre O’Connor is a Research Nutritionist and Ph.D. Candidate at TILDA, conducting research B-vitamins and cognitive function.

Her other research projects and collaborations include characterization of the typical diet amongst older adults in Ireland, identification of dietary patterns, malnutrition on older age, dietary determinants of frailty and metabolic syndrome and nutritional status and the association of health biomarkers (in particular vitamin D, vitamin B12 and Folate) with chronic disease.

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The working group aims to meet quarterly. If you are interested in joining the working group as a collaborator, please write to Deirdre O’Connor: oconnd14@tcd.ie

Publications

Dietary Biomarkers

 

Carotenoids

Feeney, J., O’Leary, N., Moran, R., O’Halloran, A.M., Nolan, J.M., Beatty, S., Young, I.S. and Kenny, R.A., 2017. Plasma lutein and zeaxanthin are associated with better cognitive function across multiple domains in a large population-based sample of older adults: findings from the Irish Longitudinal Study on Aging. Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biomedical Sciences and Medical Sciences72(10), pp.1431-1436.

 

Vitamin B12 and Folate

Laird, E.J., O’Halloran, A.M., Carey, D., O’Connor, D., Kenny, R.A. and Molloy, A.M., 2018. Voluntary fortification is ineffective to maintain the vitamin B12 and folate status of older Irish adults: evidence from the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA). British Journal of Nutrition120(1), pp.111-120.


O’Connor, D.M., Laird, E.J., Carey, D., O’Halloran, A.M., Clarke, R., Kenny, R.A. and Molloy, A.M., 2020. Plasma concentrations of vitamin B12 and folate and global cognitive function in an older population: cross-sectional findings from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA). British Journal of Nutrition124(6), pp.602-610.


Laird, E., O’Halloran, A.M., Molloy, A.M., Healy, M., Hernandez, B., O’Connor, D., Kenny, R.A. and Briggs, R., 2021. Low vitamin B12 but not folate is associated with incident depressive symptoms in community-dwelling older adults: a 4 year longitudinal study. British Journal of Nutrition, pp.1-22.


O’Connor, D., Scarlett, S., De Looze, C., O’Halloran, A.M., Laird, E., Molloy, A.M., Clarke, R., McGarrigle, C.A. and Kenny, R.A., 2022. Low folate predicts accelerated cognitive decline: 8-year follow-up of 3140 older adults in Ireland. European journal of clinical nutrition, pp.1-8.

 

Vitamin D

Laird, E., O’Halloran, A.M., Carey, D., Healy, M., O’Connor, D., Moore, P., Shannon, T., Molloy, A.M. and Kenny, R.A., 2018. The prevalence of vitamin D deficiency and the determinants of 25 (OH) D concentration in older Irish adults: data from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA). The Journals of Gerontology: Series A73(4), pp.519-525.


Briggs, R., McCarroll, K., O'Halloran, A., Healy, M., Kenny, R.A. and Laird, E., 2019. Vitamin D deficiency is associated with an increased likelihood of incident depression in community-dwelling older adults. Journal of the American Medical Directors Association20(5), pp.517-523.


Laird, E.J., McNicholas, T., O’Halloran, A.M., Healy, M., Molloy, A.M., Carey, D., O’Connor, D., McCarroll, K. and Kenny, R.A., 2019. Vitamin D status is not associated with orthostatic hypotension in older adults. Hypertension74(3), pp.639-644.

 

Consumption Patterns, Malnutrition and Frailty

O’Connor, D., Leahy, S. and McGarrigle, C., 2017. Consumption patterns and adherence to the food pyramid. Health and Wellbeing: Active Ageing for Older Adults in Ireland Evidence from the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing.


Power, L., Mullally, D., Gibney, E.R., Clarke, M., Visser, M., Volkert, D., Bardon, L., de van der Schueren, M.A., Corish, C.A. and MaNuEL Consortium, 2018. A review of the validity of malnutrition screening tools used in older adults in community and healthcare settings–A MaNuEL study. Clinical nutrition ESPEN24, pp.1-13.


Bardon, L.A., Streicher, M., Corish, C.A., Clarke, M., Power, L.C., Kenny, R.A., O’Connor, D.M., Laird, E., O’Connor, E.M., Visser, M. and Volkert, D., 2020. Predictors of Incident Malnutrition in older irish adults from the irish longitudinal study on ageing cohort—a manuel study. The Journals of Gerontology: Series A75(2), pp.249-256.
Gerontology: Series A.


O'Halloran, A.M., Laird, E.J., Feeney, J., Healy, M., Moran, R., Beatty, S., Nolan, J.M., Molloy, A.M. and Kenny, R.A., 2020. Circulating micronutrient biomarkers are associated with 3 measures of frailty: evidence from the irish longitudinal study on ageing. Journal of the American Medical Directors Association21(2), pp.240-247.