{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,10]],"date-time":"2026-09-10T05:10:16Z","timestamp":1789017016030,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":43,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,10]],"date-time":"2026-09-10T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1788998400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Nutr."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Objective<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>This study aimed to examine the longitudinal association between childhood food deprivation and physical-psychological-cognitive multimorbidity (PPC-MM), and to explore whether Light-BioAge mediates this association.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>This study included 4546 participants aged \u226545 years from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). Childhood food deprivation was retrospectively assessed as none, moderate, or extreme. Incident PPC-MM was identified during 2011\u20132020 follow-up. Cox regression examined the longitudinal association, and causal mediation analysis explored the potential mediating effect of Light-BioAge.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      In the unadjusted model, compared with no deprivation, moderate deprivation was associated with a 20% increased risk of PPC-MM (HR = 1.20, 95% CI: 1.10\u20131.31), and extreme deprivation with a 60% increased risk (HR = 1.60, 95% CI: 1.40\u20131.82). After adjusting for socio-demographic factors, the HRs were 1.19 (95% CI: 1.08\u20131.30) and 1.44 (95% CI: 1.26\u20131.65), respectively. Further adjustment for lifestyle and health-related covariates yielded HRs of 1.17 (95% CI: 1.07\u20131.28) and 1.43 (95% CI: 1.25\u20131.63). Kaplan-Meier survival curves showed significant differences in cumulative incidence among the three groups (Log-rank test,\n                      <jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic>\n                      &amp;lt; 0.001). Subgroup analyses revealed consistent directionality across sex, age, education, residence, and BMI strata, with no significant interactions (all P for interaction &amp;gt; 0.05). Exploratory causal mediation analysis indicated that Light-BioAge accounted for a small proportion (4.9% and 5.3%) of the total effects, with indirect effects close to the null (HR = 1.01, 95% CI: 1.00\u20131.01).\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Childhood food deprivation is robustly associated with PPC-MM in a dose-response manner. The exploratory effect of Light-BioAge suggests that other pathways may play more important roles. These findings support integrating early-life nutritional risk assessment into healthy aging strategies.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fnut.2026.1908542","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,10]],"date-time":"2026-09-10T04:32:50Z","timestamp":1789014770000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Early-life nutritional deprivation and multimorbidity in middle- aged and older adults: a longitudinal exploratory mediation analysis of biological aging"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Qiaohe","family":"Wang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Special Medicine, Chongqing Academy of Medical Sciences, Chongqing General Hospital, Chongqing University","place":["Chongqing, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Li","family":"Ma","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of 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