Author(s)

Kenji Mizumoto, Xudong Xiong, Hua Yan, Xiaolin Wang, Zaisi Ji, Hajime Sasaki

Food Science Research Laboratories, Meiji Co. Ltd., Odawara, Japan.
Shanghai Meiji Health Science and Technology, Inc., Shanghai, China.
Shuguang Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, China.

A nutritional intervention for 8 weeks was conducted in the elderly (>65 y) living in nursing homes in Shanghai, who showed body weight within the normal range but albumin levels of <35 g/L. The intervened took 400 kcal/day of a balanced liquid nutrition formula containing casein as a major protein source (90% of total protein) in addition to their daily diets, while the non-intervened took only daily diets. Daily diet intakes during the trial were 1738 ± 240 kcal/day in the intervened and 1612 ± 187 kcal/day in the non-intervened. The energy intake in the intervened wascompensated for by reducing their daily diets, which resulted in a similar level to that in the non-intervened. This intervention resulted in intakes of protein and carbohydrate being significantly increased: P16.4%, F27.3%, C56.3% in the intervened; P13.0%, F36.3%, C50.7% in the non-intervened. Albumin level of the intervened increased from 32.7 ± 3.1 g/L to 37.3 ± 1.9 g/L, while it did not significantly change in the non-intervened: 30.0 ± 4.2 g/L to 31.3 ± 4.6 g/L. Using GNRI (geriatric nutritional risk index), nutritional risk levels were assessed; GNRI of the intervened significantly improved from 88.7 ± 6.3 (intermediate risk) to 95.7 ± 4.5 (low risk), while its status did not change in the non-intervened: 84.6 ± 7.7 (intermediate risk) to 86.5 ± 7.9 (intermediate risk). The intervention using a casein-based balanced liquid nutrition formula effectively improved protein-malnutrition in the elderly. This result suggests that a casein-based balanced liquid nutrition formula is an effective nutrition source that can be applied to a nutritional program to improve malnutrition of the elderly.

Elderly, Protein, Casein, Energy, Malnutrition, Liquid Nutrition Formula

Mizumoto, K. , Xiong, X. , Yan, H. , Wang, X. , Ji, Z. and Sasaki, H. (2014) Improvement in Nutritional Status of Protein-Malnutrition Elderly after Intervention Using a Casein-Based Balanced Liquid Nutrition Formula as Nutritional Support. Food and Nutrition Sciences, 5, 1083-1093. doi: 10.4236/fns.2014.511118.