Reprint of: A parallel randomized trial on the effect of a healthful diet on inflammageing and its consequences in European elderly people: Design of the NU-AGE dietary intervention study

Abstract

The NU-AGE study is the first dietary intervention investigating the effect of a healthful diet providing targeted nutritional recommendations for optimal health and quality of life in apparently healthy European elderly. Results of this intervention will provide evidence on the effect of a healthful diet on the prevention of age related decline.

One-year Mediterranean diet promotes epigenetic rejuvenation with country- and sex-specific effects: a pilot study from the NU-AGE project

“…In this study, we observed the effects of a 1-year Mediterranean-like diet, newly designed according to the nutritional needs of people over 65 years of age (Berendsen et al 2014), on epigenetic AA measures. We analyzed blood methylation data, obtained in a population of subjects enrolled in a multicenter trial, and we demonstrated that the nutritional intervention delivered in the NU-AGE study can slow down the epigenetic aging rate of blood in specific groups of participants.…”

“…NU-AGE was a 1-year, multicenter, randomized, singleblind, controlled trial (registered with clinicaltrials.gov, NCT01754012) with two parallel groups (i.e., dietary intervention and control) carried out during April 2012-January 2015 in five European centers in Italy, Poland, France, the Netherlands, and the UK. The recruitment of participants has been described in detail previously (Berendsen et al 2014;Santoro et al 2014). Briefly, 1279 participants aged 65-79 years, free of major overt chronic diseases for at least 2 years (i.e., cancer, severe organ disease), living independently, and free of dementia, were recruited to participate in the baseline assessment.…”

“…Some studies have suggested that Mediterranean diet prevents telomere shortening, a well-established biomarker of age, but results are not consistent among different studies (Davinelli et al 2019). The role of Mediterranean diet in promoting healthy aging has been recently investigated in the framework of the European project NU-AGE ("New dietary strategies addressing the specific needs of elderly population for an healthy aging in Europe" (http://www.nu-age.eu/)), a large multidisciplinary consortium with 30 partners across Europe (Berendsen et al 2014;Santoro et al 2014). The aim of NU-AGE project was to investigate how an intervention based on Mediterranean diet, specifically tailored according to the nutritional needs of people over 65 years of age, can impact on age-related diseases and functional decline, possibly modulating inflammaging and its outcomes (Franceschi et al 2000).…”

Dietary Fibre May Mitigate Sarcopenia Risk: Findings from the NU-AGE Cohort of Older European Adults

“…The present study included older men and women (n = 981; age 65-79 years) recruited within the frame of the NU-AGE project, a multi-centre study exploring determinants of healthy aging across five European countries. At screening, subjects fulfilling frailty criteria were excluded [30]. A detailed description of the recruitment process and study design has been described elsewhere [30,31].…”

“…At screening, subjects fulfilling frailty criteria were excluded [30]. A detailed description of the recruitment process and study design has been described elsewhere [30,31]. In the context of the present study, data from France were not included due to a lack of information on accelerometer-based PA. Local ethical approval was provided by the Independent Ethics Committee of the Sant'Orsola-Malpighi Hospital Bologna (Italy-103/2011/U/Sper), the National Research Ethics Committee-East of England (United Kingdom-12/EE/0109), the Wageningen University Medical Ethics Committee (Netherlands-11/41 NU-AGE) and the Bioethics Committee of the Polish National Food and Nutrition Institute (Poland).…”