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Health and lifestyle characteristics of older European adults: the ZENITH study

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 59, pages S13–S21 (2005)Cite this article

Abstract

Objective:

To describe health and lifestyle factors of participants in the ZENITH study.

Design:

A prospective multicentre intervention study employing a randomised double-blind design.

Participants:

Community dwelling older adults (n=387), aged 55–87 y were recruited from regions in France, Italy and the UK.

Intervention:

A self-report questionnaire comprising socio-demographic variables, dietary habits, physical activity in the home, at work and recreation.

Results:

Participants differed with regards dietary habits and physical activity for each region. Recreational activity was higher in France and women generally tend to perform less hours of recreational activity per week than men.

Conclusions:

The differences found for these regions of Europe in relation to lifestyle factors will affect health and well-being within these countries and may mediate the impact of zinc supplementation on various biological and psychological parameters.

Sponsorship:

The ZENITH study is supported by the European Commission ‘Quality of Life and Management of Living Resources’ Fifth Framework Programme, Contract No: QLK1-CT-2001-00168.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Psychology/NICHE University of Ulster, Northern Ireland, UK

    E E A Simpson, J M O'Connor, M B E Livingstone, G Rae, B J Stewart-Knox, M Kelly & J M W Wallace

  2. Laboratoire de Nutrition Vieillissement et Maladies Cardiovasculaires, Faculté de Pharmacie, Université de Joseph Fourier, Domaine de la Merci, La Tronche, France

    M Andriollo-Sanchez, E Toti & M Ferry

  3. Centre de Recherche en Nutrition Humaine d'Auvergne, Unité Maladies Métaboliques et Micro-nutriments, INRA, Centre de Recherche de Clermont-Ferrand/Theix, Saint Genès Champanelle, France

    N Meunier & C Coudray

  4. National Institute for Food and Nutrition Research Human Nutrition Unit, Rome, Italy

    A Polito

Authors
  1. E E A Simpson
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  2. J M O'Connor
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  3. M B E Livingstone
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  4. G Rae
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  5. B J Stewart-Knox
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  6. M Andriollo-Sanchez
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  7. E Toti
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  8. N Meunier
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  9. M Ferry
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  10. A Polito
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  11. M Kelly
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  12. J M W Wallace
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  13. C Coudray
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to E E A Simpson.

Additional information

Guarantor: EEA Simpson.

Contributors: EEAS gathered data, wrote the paper and contributed to the statistical analysis. JMO is the principle investigator at the Northern Ireland centre. MBEL contributed to questionnaire design. GR contributed to the statistical analysis. BS-K contributed to protocol and paper review. MA gathered data, contributed to paper review. ET gathered data. NM gathered data and contributed to review of paper. MF contributed to protocol. AP gathered data and contributed to paper review. MK helped with data collection and participant recruitment. JMWW contributed to study design and interpretation of results. CC was the study coordinator.

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Simpson, E., O'Connor, J., Livingstone, M. et al. Health and lifestyle characteristics of older European adults: the ZENITH study. Eur J Clin Nutr 59 (Suppl 2), S13–S21 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1602292

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