diff --git a/docs/changelog/93255.yaml b/docs/changelog/93255.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..1492a5b7155df
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/changelog/93255.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+pr: 93255
+summary: Improve frequent items runtime
+area: Machine Learning
+type: enhancement
+issues: []
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/aggs/frequentitemsets/mr/ItemSetMapReduceAggregator.java b/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/aggs/frequentitemsets/mr/ItemSetMapReduceAggregator.java
index dbe29b6481714..a404514aca071 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/aggs/frequentitemsets/mr/ItemSetMapReduceAggregator.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/aggs/frequentitemsets/mr/ItemSetMapReduceAggregator.java
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ public abstract class ItemSetMapReduceAggregator<
     ReduceContext extends Closeable,
     Result extends ToXContent & Writeable> extends AggregatorBase {
 
-    private final List<ItemSetMapReduceValueSource> extractors;
+    private final List<ItemSetMapReduceValueSource> valueSources;
     private final Weight weightDocumentFilter;
     private final List<Field> fields;
     private final AbstractItemSetMapReducer<MapContext, MapFinalContext, ReduceContext, Result> mapReducer;
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ protected ItemSetMapReduceAggregator(
     ) throws IOException {
         super(name, AggregatorFactories.EMPTY, context, parent, CardinalityUpperBound.NONE, metadata);
 
-        List<ItemSetMapReduceValueSource> extractors = new ArrayList<>();
+        List<ItemSetMapReduceValueSource> valueSources = new ArrayList<>();
         List<Field> fields = new ArrayList<>();
         IndexSearcher contextSearcher = context.searcher();
 
@@ -84,11 +84,11 @@ protected ItemSetMapReduceAggregator(
                 .build(c.v1(), id++, c.v2());
             if (e.getField().getName() != null) {
                 fields.add(e.getField());
-                extractors.add(e);
+                valueSources.add(e);
             }
         }
 
-        this.extractors = Collections.unmodifiableList(extractors);
+        this.valueSources = Collections.unmodifiableList(valueSources);
         this.fields = Collections.unmodifiableList(fields);
         this.mapReducer = mapReducer;
         this.profiling = context.profiling();
@@ -126,14 +126,19 @@ protected LeafBucketCollector getLeafCollector(AggregationExecutionContext ctx,
             )
             : null;
 
+        List<ItemSetMapReduceValueSource.ValueCollector> valueCollectors = new ArrayList<>(valueSources.size());
+        for (ItemSetMapReduceValueSource valueSource : valueSources) {
+            valueCollectors.add(valueSource.getValueCollector(ctx.getLeafReaderContext()));
+        }
+
         return new LeafBucketCollectorBase(sub, null) {
             @Override
             public void collect(int doc, long owningBucketOrd) throws IOException {
                 SetOnce<IOException> firstException = new SetOnce<>();
                 if (bits == null || bits.get(doc)) {
-                    mapReducer.map(extractors.stream().map(extractor -> {
+                    mapReducer.map(valueCollectors.stream().map(c -> {
                         try {
-                            return extractor.collect(ctx.getLeafReaderContext(), doc);
+                            return c.collect(doc);
                         } catch (IOException e) {
                             firstException.trySet(e);
                             // ignored in AbstractMapReducer
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/aggs/frequentitemsets/mr/ItemSetMapReduceValueSource.java b/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/aggs/frequentitemsets/mr/ItemSetMapReduceValueSource.java
index 6af981f7ed130..e02ca1666b2db 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/aggs/frequentitemsets/mr/ItemSetMapReduceValueSource.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/aggs/frequentitemsets/mr/ItemSetMapReduceValueSource.java
@@ -34,11 +34,21 @@
  */
 public abstract class ItemSetMapReduceValueSource {
 
+    /**
+     * Interface to hook value collection into the {@link org.elasticsearch.search.aggregations.support.ValuesSourceRegistry}
+     */
     @FunctionalInterface
     public interface ValueSourceSupplier {
         ItemSetMapReduceValueSource build(ValuesSourceConfig config, int id, IncludeExclude includeExclude);
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Internal interface for collecting values
+     */
+    interface ValueCollector {
+        Tuple<Field, List<Object>> collect(int doc) throws IOException;
+    }
+
     enum ValueFormatter {
         BYTES_REF {
             @Override
@@ -125,7 +135,7 @@ public int hashCode() {
 
     private final Field field;
 
-    abstract Tuple<Field, List<Object>> collect(LeafReaderContext ctx, int doc) throws IOException;
+    abstract ValueCollector getValueCollector(LeafReaderContext ctx) throws IOException;
 
     ItemSetMapReduceValueSource(ValuesSourceConfig config, int id, ValueFormatter valueFormatter) {
         String fieldName = config.fieldContext() != null ? config.fieldContext().field() : null;
@@ -151,22 +161,31 @@ public KeywordValueSource(ValuesSourceConfig config, int id, IncludeExclude incl
         }
 
         @Override
-        public Tuple<Field, List<Object>> collect(LeafReaderContext ctx, int doc) throws IOException {
-            SortedBinaryDocValues values = source.bytesValues(ctx);
+        ValueCollector getValueCollector(LeafReaderContext ctx) throws IOException {
+            final SortedBinaryDocValues values = source.bytesValues(ctx);
+            final Field field = getField();
+            final Tuple<Field, List<Object>> empty = new Tuple<>(field, Collections.emptyList());
+
+            return doc -> {
+                if (values.advanceExact(doc)) {
+                    int valuesCount = values.docValueCount();
+
+                    if (valuesCount == 0) {
+                        return empty;
+                    }
 
-            if (values.advanceExact(doc)) {
-                int valuesCount = values.docValueCount();
-                List<Object> objects = new ArrayList<>(valuesCount);
+                    List<Object> objects = new ArrayList<>(valuesCount);
 
-                for (int i = 0; i < valuesCount; ++i) {
-                    BytesRef v = values.nextValue();
-                    if (stringFilter == null || stringFilter.accept(v)) {
-                        objects.add(BytesRef.deepCopyOf(v));
+                    for (int i = 0; i < valuesCount; ++i) {
+                        BytesRef v = values.nextValue();
+                        if (stringFilter == null || stringFilter.accept(v)) {
+                            objects.add(BytesRef.deepCopyOf(v));
+                        }
                     }
+                    return new Tuple<>(field, objects);
                 }
-                return new Tuple<>(getField(), objects);
-            }
-            return new Tuple<>(getField(), Collections.emptyList());
+                return empty;
+            };
         }
 
     }
@@ -182,22 +201,31 @@ public NumericValueSource(ValuesSourceConfig config, int id, IncludeExclude incl
         }
 
         @Override
-        public Tuple<Field, List<Object>> collect(LeafReaderContext ctx, int doc) throws IOException {
-            SortedNumericDocValues values = source.longValues(ctx);
+        ValueCollector getValueCollector(LeafReaderContext ctx) throws IOException {
+            final SortedNumericDocValues values = source.longValues(ctx);
+            final Field field = getField();
+            final Tuple<Field, List<Object>> empty = new Tuple<>(field, Collections.emptyList());
 
-            if (values.advanceExact(doc)) {
-                int valuesCount = values.docValueCount();
-                List<Object> objects = new ArrayList<>(valuesCount);
+            return doc -> {
+                if (values.advanceExact(doc)) {
+                    int valuesCount = values.docValueCount();
 
-                for (int i = 0; i < valuesCount; ++i) {
-                    long v = values.nextValue();
-                    if (longFilter == null || longFilter.accept(v)) {
-                        objects.add(v);
+                    if (valuesCount == 0) {
+                        return empty;
                     }
+
+                    List<Object> objects = new ArrayList<>(valuesCount);
+
+                    for (int i = 0; i < valuesCount; ++i) {
+                        long v = values.nextValue();
+                        if (longFilter == null || longFilter.accept(v)) {
+                            objects.add(v);
+                        }
+                    }
+                    return new Tuple<>(field, objects);
                 }
-                return new Tuple<>(getField(), objects);
-            }
-            return new Tuple<>(getField(), Collections.emptyList());
+                return empty;
+            };
         }
 
     }