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The Effect of Culinary Medicine to Enhance Protein Intake on Muscle Quality in Older Adults

T

Texas Tech University

Status

Completed

Conditions

Sarcopenia

Treatments

Behavioral: Culinary Medicine
Behavioral: Control

Study type

Interventional

Funder types

Other

Identifiers

NCT06157385
IRB2023-505

Details and patient eligibility

About

Aging is associated with a decline in muscle mass, strength, and physical function, leading to sarcopenia and frailty. This deterioration of muscle and physical capabilities impacts an individual's functional independence and quality of life. Dietary protein stimulates muscle protein synthesis. Therefore, nutritional interventions that recommend higher protein intakes may enhance muscle protein synthesis. Food intake, including protein-rich foods such as red meat, has been shown to decline with age. Barriers to consuming protein-rich foods include reductions in taste and smell, dentition and dexterity, and changes in living situations. Therefore, nutritional interventions that can effectively improve eating behaviors and diet quality while stimulating muscle protein synthesis in older adults are necessary to help prevent, manage, and promote recovery of sarcopenia. To reduce potential barriers of red meat consumption in community-dwelling older adults, an additional beneficial strategy may be the use of cooking demonstrations, or culinary medicine, by imparting knowledge about healthy cooking to improve the dietary habits of individuals who are at risk of sarcopenia. In this approach, people will be educated about age-appropriate, healthy eating behaviors and equipped with basic cooking skills to incorporate nutritious food into their daily diet. A systematic review concluded that culinary interventions such as cooking classes effectively improved attitudes, self-efficacy, and healthy eating in children and adults. A recent study using cooking videos to encourage the consumption of calcium-rich foods showed that the subjects gained knowledge and were motivated to consume calcium-rich foods, and video demonstrations were accepted as an effective communication channel to impart cooking skills. Additionally, it is suggested that cooking at home improves adherence to healthy nutrition, thereby reducing chronic illness risks. Older adults may not be aware of their changing nutrient needs and therefore may lack the skills to prepare nutritionally adequate foods properly. Thus, cooking demonstrations can be a novel strategy to improve diet quality in older adults and promote and augment at-home cooking. Culinary medicine is an evidence-based field that combines skills of preparing, cooking, and presenting food with the science of medicine to accomplish potential improvements in eating behaviors and health outcomes. The goal of culinary medicine is to help people improve their diet quality which assists them in their medical regimen to produce an effective treatment.

Enrollment

28 patients

Sex

All

Ages

65+ years old

Volunteers

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

  • 65 years of age and older
  • Physically active
  • Willing to eat beef
  • Able to cook
  • Able to use a computer or mobile device
  • Willing to undergo two blood draws

Exclusion criteria

  • <65 years of age
  • Screening for sarcopenia SARC-F score of 4 or greater
  • Regular consumption of nicotine, excessive alcohol (4+ drinks/day for women or 5+ drinks/day for men), and/or illicit drugs such as amphetamines, cocaine, marijuana, or opiates
  • Have cancer, transplant, amputation, or renal disorder
  • Limited mobility
  • Self-reported cognitive dysfunction
  • Have heart pacemaker
  • Have Type 1 diabetes or Type 2 diabetes with insulin therapy

Trial design

Primary purpose

Prevention

Allocation

Randomized

Interventional model

Parallel Assignment

Masking

None (Open label)

28 participants in 2 patient groups

Culinary Medicine
Experimental group
Description:
The participants in this group will receive culinary medicine in the form of videos that will include cooking demonstrations and nutrition education based on lean beef to enhance protein intake.
Treatment:
Behavioral: Culinary Medicine
Control
Other group
Description:
This group will only receive recipes based on lean beef to enhance protein intake.
Treatment:
Behavioral: Control

Trial contacts and locations

1

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Central trial contact

Shannon Galyean, PhD; Justin Chavez

Data sourced from clinicaltrials.gov

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