Investigating the role of nutrition on physical capacity and body composition in older adults with osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis (OA) is an age-related, debilitating, chronic condition that damages joints and causes pain and immobility, most frequently in the knee, hip and hand. Osteoarthritis prevalence will to surge to 10 million in Canada in the next two decades. There is no cure. Obesity dramatically elevates the risk of OA development and worsening. Thus, interventions for OA have incorporated both diet and exercise. However, diet interventions used in OA have focused on calorie restriction, without a prior analysis of dietary factors that contribute to OA disease or its functional consequences. This cross-sectional analysis of CLSA data will identify unique food intakes that exist in OA and study the relationships between food intake and nutritional risk on physical capacity, general health and whole body composition in older adults with OA. These findings are essential to identify how to tailor diet interventions for effective, long-term weight management in older adults with OA.