Increase Protein Intake of Older Meal Service Clients With Readymade Protein-rich Meals and Foods

Testing the Effectiveness and Acceptance of Home-delivered Protein-rich Meals and Foods on the Intake of Community-dwelling Older Adults.

Rationale: Undernutrition risk among community-dwelling older adults in developed countries is shown to be around 24%. Increasing protein intake is a strategy that is feasible as well as efficacious to reduce undernutrition in community-dwelling older adults. A promising strategy to increase protein intake among older adults, is to offer dietary solutions with normal foods that fit their current daily eating patterns. For this reason, home-delivered protein-rich readymade meals and protein-rich dairy products will be studied in this research.

Objective: The primary objective is to study the effectiveness of commercially available protein-rich readymade meals and protein-rich dairy products in increasing protein intake of older adults who use a meal-delivery service to a level of 1.2 g/kg bodyweight/d. Secondary objectives include: studying effects of these meals and dairy products on total daily energy intake. Further, studying the acceptance of and compliance to the meals and dairy products.

Study design: The study will be performed as a single-blind randomized, controlled, four-week trial in a real-life setting: in community-dwelling older adults' own homes.

Study population: The target group of this study are community-dwelling older adults who use a meal-delivery service.

Intervention: Both groups will receive readymade meals for each day during 4 weeks. They will also receive dairy products to freely consume during the intervention period. The intervention groups receives protein-rich meals and protein-rich dairy products, the control receives standard meals and food products.

Main study parameters/endpoints: Difference in daily protein intake between intervention and control group. Secondary parameters: energy intake and acceptance (liking).

Inclusion Criteria:

• Aged 65 years or over
• Living at home
• Be a client of maaltijdservice.nl
• Being able to eat by themselves
• Have a microwave to heat meals
• Live in Nijmegen or Den Bosch area
• Being able to understand, read and speak Dutch
• Having signed informed consent.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Legally incapacitated
• Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) score < 24
• Following a diet with protein restriction or a vegetarian diet
• Allergies or intolerances prohibiting the use of dairy products
• Only using texture modified foods (liquid diet)
• Diagnosed by doctor with renal insufficiency
• Suffering from a terminal illness