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Increases in protein intake, protein distribution score, and micronutrient intakes in older adults in response to a whole food-based dietary intervention

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Abstract

Background

Changes in nutrient intakes and protein distribution were analyzed in response to a whole food-based dietary intervention targeting high-protein meals in older adults.

Methods

Community-dwelling older adults (n = 56; M/F, 28/28; age, 69.3 ± 4.0 years) completed a 12-week intervention after randomization to exercise only (EX, n = 19), nutrition only (NUTR, n = 16), or nutrition plus exercise (NUTR + EX, n = 21). NUTR and NUTR + EX followed a dietary intervention targeting ~ 0.4 g/kg of protein at each of breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Results

Relative protein intake increased in NUTR (0.99 ± 0.34 to 1.43 ± 0.39 g/kg, P < 0.001) and NUTR + EX (0.90 ± 0.20 to 1.57 ± 0.49 g/kg, P < 0.001). Intakes of cholesterol, B vitamins, selenium and iodine were increased in both NUTR and NUTR + EX (P < 0.05 for all).

Conclusion

This dietary intervention was effective at increasing daily protein intake and achieving an even distribution pattern. Changes in micronutrient intake were marked, and reflect the increase in consumption of animal-derived protein-rich food sources.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Mr. John C. Murphy, Dr. Andrew Grannell, Ms. Orlaith Duffy and staff at Medfit Proactive Healthcare for supporting the delivery of the exercise training intervention as part of the larger study protocol, and Dr. Karl E. Cogan for assistance with physical assessments as part of the same.

Funding

This work was supported by funding from The Irish Research Council through both the Employment-based Postgraduate Programme to JT and BE (Grant number: EBPPG/2014/39), and the Enterprise Partnership Scheme Postgraduate Programme to MH and BE (Grant number: EPSPG/2014/91). The Irish Research Council is an associated agency of the Department of Education and Skills and operates under the aegis of the Higher Education Authority of Ireland. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Health and Human Performance, Dublin City University, Glasnevin, Dublin 9, Ireland

    Michelle Hone & Brendan Egan

  2. Institute for Sport and Health, School of Public Health, Physiotherapy and Sports Science, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

    James F. Timmons

  3. National Institute for Cellular Biotechnology, Dublin City University, Dublin, Ireland

    Brendan Egan

  4. Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, Pensacola, FL, USA

    Brendan Egan

Authors
  1. Michelle Hone
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  2. James F. Timmons
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  3. Brendan Egan
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Contributions

MH: conceptualization; data curation; formal analysis; investigation; methodology; project administration; roles/writing—original draft. JT: data curation; formal analysis; investigation; methodology; project administration. BE: conceptualization; formal analysis; funding acquisition; methodology; project administration; supervision; validation; roles/writing—original draft; writing—review and editing. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Brendan Egan.

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Conflict of interest

BE was formerly (in the past 36 months) funded under the Glycemic Management pillar of the Enterprise Ireland-funded technology centre Food for Health Ireland, whose focus is on the potential benefits of dairy ingredients for human health. BE is presently funded under the Health pillar of the Enterprise Ireland-funded technology centre Meat Technology Ireland, whose focus is on the potential benefits of meat for human health. BE is presently funded by the Marine Institute Ireland, a State agency responsible for marine research, technology development and innovation, for a project focused on the potential benefits of a fish protein hydrolysate on muscle health in older adults. The other authors have no conflict of interest, financial or otherwise, to declare.

Statement of human and animal rights

Ethical approval was granted by the University College Dublin Human Research Ethics Committee (permit: LS-17-22-Timmons-Egan), and the study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki.

Informed consent

All participants provided their written informed consent prior to commencing participation in the study.

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Hone, M., Timmons, J.F. & Egan, B. Increases in protein intake, protein distribution score, and micronutrient intakes in older adults in response to a whole food-based dietary intervention. Aging Clin Exp Res 34, 927–934 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-021-02009-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-021-02009-4

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