Dietary patterns contribute to overall health and diseases of ageing but are understudied in older adults. As such, we first aimed to develop dietary indices to quantify Mediterranean Diet Score (MDS) utilisation and Ultra-processed Food (UPF) intake in a well-characterised cohort of relatively healthy community-dwelling older Australian adults. Second, we aimed to understand the relationship between these scores and the association of these scores with prevalent cardiometabolic disease and frailty. Our major findings are that in this population of older adults, (a) pre-frailty and frailty are associated with reduced MDS and increased UPF intake; (b) adherence to MDS eating patterns does not preclude relatively high intake of UPF (and vice versa); and (c) high utilisation of an MDS eating pattern does not prevent an increased risk of frailty with higher UPF intakes. As such, the Mediterranean Diet pattern should be encouraged in older adults to potentially reduce the risk of frailty, while the impact of UPF intake should be further explored given the convenience these foods provide to a population whose access to unprocessed food may be limited due to socioeconomic, health, and lifestyle factors.

Background/Objectives: Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease (MASLD) is the most common liver disease worldwide, affecting 38% of the adult population globally. Methods: We examined the impact of the Mediterranean Diet and Ultra Processed Food (UPF) intake on the risk of prevalent MASLD in older adults. Results: Our major findings include that increased adherence to a Mediterranean Dietary pattern was associated with a decreased risk of MASLD. Additionally, we found that high UPF intake was associated with an increased risk of MASLD. Furthermore, our study found that even with a high UPF intake, the risk of MASLD decreased if the individual also had a higher Mediterranean Diet intake compared to a lower Mediterranean Diet intake. Conclusions: These results are of particular importance in older people, given the known links between MASLD, metabolic comorbidities and frailty. Public health messaging should focus on promoting Mediterranean dietary habits, and ways to help older people achieve this given the social and economic barriers they may face.