Award

PREVNUT - FORTIPHY, Preventing the risk of undernutrition by fostering meal fortification and physical activity in older adults

Description: Popular science description: The FORTIPHY project develops solutions for meals and physical activity that counteract undernutrition in the elderly. To ensure high adoption and compliance levels for FORTIPHY solutions, end users (elderly people and caregivers) from France, Belgium, the United Kingdom and Norway will be associated in the project through co-creation and participatory research. Poor appetite is a major determinant of undernutrition in the elderly. Contrary to popular belief, nutritional needs decrease little with age and may even increase. Fortification consists of adding ingredients with a high protein and / or high energy content in regular drinks and foods. FORTIPHY will develop new solutions allowing older people (= 70 years old living at home) to fortify their regular meals, whether they are made from scratch, based on semi-finished or ready-made food. In addition, FORTIPHY will evaluate the added value of physical activity in combination with meal solutions. A first work package will map available high-protein ingredients and their technological and functional properties, as well as eating habits in elderly people living at home. Based on these inputs, another work package will develop and test fortified recipes in preference tests. The bioavailability of amino acids in fortified dishes and the potential impact of these dishes on satiety and biological markers of appetite will be measured. A third work package will assess the efficiency of meal fortification and the added value of physical activity to prevent the risk of undernutrition in older small eaters living at home (randomized controlled field trial). A fourth work package will disseminate the results in a massive open on-line course (MOOC) and a Summer School, contributing to raise stakeholder awareness of the problem and the solutions to prevent malnutrition. Project summary: Poor appetite is a major determinant of protein-energy undernutrition while contrary to common beliefs, nutritional needs decrease little with age and even sometimes increase. Fortification, which consists in adding high-energy/high-protein ingredients to regular drinks or foods is acknowledged to be a flexible and relevant approach for older people with reduced appetite. In parallel, several studies have demonstrated better effect of interventions combining nutritional approaches with physical activity over nutritional or physical activity interventions alone. Given this context, FORTIPHY will develop new solutions allowing older people (= 70 years old living at home) to fortify their regular meals, and will assess the added value of physical activity to meal fortification. In order to ensure high adoption and compliance levels for FORTIPHY solutions, end-users (older people, caregivers) will be associated in the project through co-creation and participatory research. A first work package will be dedicated to the rational design of fortified recipes through (i) an unbiased review of available high-protein ingredients and (ii) the identification of technological and consumer usage constraints. Based on these inputs, a second work package will develop fortified recipes considering the preferences of older people (home-used tests). The bioavailability of the amino acids in fortified dishes and potential impact of these dishes on satiety and biological markers of appetite will be measured. A third work package will assess the efficiency of meal fortification and the added value of physical activity to prevent the onset of the risk of undernutrition in older small eaters living at home (randomized controlled field trial). A fourth work package will disseminate the results in a massive open on-line course (MOOC) and a Summer School, contributing to raise the awareness of stakeholders regarding the issue and the solutions to prevent undernutrition. Teaser: The FORTIPHY project develops solutions for meals and physical activity that counteract undernutrition in the elderly. To ensure high adoption and compliance levels for FORTIPHY solutions, end users (elderly people and caregivers) from France, Belgium, the United Kingdom and Norway will be associ... Disciplines: [["Medisin og helsefag", "Helsefag", "Ernæring"]] Geographies: [["Akershus", "Ås"]]

Funder: Norges Forskningsråd

Amount: NOK 2,784,000

Funding type: research

Funder scheme: LANDBASERT-LANDBASERT

Start date: 2021-01-01

End date: 2026-12-31

Investigator: Paula Varela

Institution: NOFIMA AS

Funded outputs count: 0

Funder award ID: rcn-foriss-321819

OpenAlex ID: G8368010657