Why does appetite change as we age? A challenge for the PROMISS project

With the ageing of the European population, the challenge is to keep the growing population of older adults healthy and active. In Europe, between 13.5 and 29.7% of older adults living at home are malnourished or at risk for malnutrition. the Horizon2020 project PROMISS aims at better understanding and preventing malnutrition among them, contributing to improve active and healthy ageing.

Using large scale databases, PROMISS will identify the relationships between food intake, food characteristics, physical activity, the oral and gut microbiota, poor appetite, malnutrition and poor health among older adults. It will especially focus on the prevention of protein-energy malnutrition. So far, most research in older adults (mainly focused only on persons living in care facilities) has been focused on treatment of malnutrition by providing extra protein and energy, which led to weight gain but no convincing effects on health and functional outcomes. Moreover, the project will look at reasons to explain poor appetite among older persons, seen as the key towards the prevention of malnutrition, and will look at impact of changes in oral and gut microbiome to explain loss of taste and smell. PROMISS will then research the food preferences and attitudes of older adults with regard to food intake, food characteristics, and physical activity. The identification of senior consumers’ preferences and attitudes is a requirement for the food industry to meet the growing senior consumer market with adequate products. The project was kicked-off in Amsterdam on 6-7 June 2016, for a 5-year research on malnutrition.

For more information, please contact ophélie.durand@age-platform.eu and ilenia.gheno@age-platform.eu

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