• Gaëlle Soriano, Philippe Souto De Barreto, Yves Rolland, Marie Plessz, Sabine Goisser, Sophie Guyonnet, Bertrand Fougère, Bruno Vellas, Sandrine Andrieu, Sandrine Sourdet, and Groupe DSA MAPT.
• Institut du Vieillissement, Gérontopôle, Université Toulouse III Paul Sabatier, 37, Allées Jules Guesde, 31000, Toulouse, France. gasoriano@free.fr.
• Aging Clin Exp Res. 2019 Jun 1; 31 (6): 855-861.

ObjectiveTo investigate ready-meal consumption trends in older French people, its association with overall diet quality and obesity.DesignCross-sectional analysis SETTING: Multidomain Alzheimer Preventive Trial (MAPT), France SUBJECTS: 421 MAPT participants (mean age 76.8 years) who filled a food frequency questionnaire.ResultsThe frequency of ready-meal consumption was low, with nearly 90% of participants declaring consuming ≤ 1 ready-meal per week. Compared to non- and low-consumers (≤ 1 ready-meal/week), regular consumers (≥ 2 ready-meals/week) were older (p < 0.01), more often frail and pre-frail (p 0.04), with impaired cognition (p = 0.02) and functional status (p = 0.02), with more depressive symptoms (p = 0.03) and more difficulties with preparing meals (p = 0.01). Results from multivariate analyses showed that regular ready-meal consumption was not associated with obesity (p = 0.26) and diet quality (p = 0.37).ConclusionsIn our sample, few older people declared consumption of 2 or more ready-meals per week, this consumption was not associated with a higher prevalence of obesity or a lower diet quality, despite the fact that these subject were older, with a lower physical and cognitive status. These findings suggest that, for these people with difficulties in meal preparation, convenience foods consumed occasionally could help to maintain diet quality and weight status.

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