OBJECTIVE: Description of the nutritional status of healthy elderly people and investigation of its longitudinal relationship with mortality and cognitive or functional decline. DESIGN: Longitudinal study. SETTING: In Dordogne, France. SUBJECTS: A total of 169 French elderly community dwellers aged 68 y and older from in the PAQUID (Personnes Agées QUID) study were included. Dietary intake was assessed by a 3 day food record and a dietary history. Self-reported weight and height were used to calculate the body mass index (BMI, kg=m 2 ). Mortality, activities of daily living (ADL), instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) and the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) were measured at 5 y follow-up. RESULTS: Nutritional intake and BMI vary according to age and sex. Men generally have a higher nutritional intake than women. Intake decreases with age especially in men. Among the 169 subjects, 22 died. When analyzed by logistic regression, there was no relation between markers of risk of poor nutrition and mortality but a BMI greater or equal 27 at baseline was associated with a increased risk of 5 y mortality (OR ¼ 6.27, 95% CI 1.29 -30.37) adjusted for sex and age. With regard to cognitive decline, subjects with a BMI greater or equal than 23 kg=m 2 had 3.6 times lower chance of presenting a decline in the subsequent 5 y adjusted by age and sex (OR ¼ 0.28, 95%, CI 0.09 -0.90). BMI ranging between 23 and 27 was associated with a significantly decreased risk of IADL disability (OR ¼ 0.31, 95% CI 0.10 -0.93) in multivariate analyses. CONCLUSION: In apparently healthy elderly people a BMI ranging between 23 and 27 is associated with lower risks of functional and cognitive declines in the subsequent 5 y.