Development of innovative food-based fortification solutions to sustain health in older people using a co-creation approach
Abstract
Aging can be accompanied by a decrease in protein intake while older adults require comparatively more protein per day than younger adults. Insufficient protein intake leads to loss of muscle mass and impaired immune function, with negative effects on the autonomy and health of older people.
Food-based fortification allows older people with reduced appetite to meet their nutritional needs. It consists of incorporating ingredients of nutritional interest into everyday foods without increasing the volume to be ingested. Fortification is a flexible solution that allows better adaptation to older people’s food preferences and better guarantees the maintenance of a varied diet. However, it remains largely unknown and underused by older adults and their caregivers.
In this context, the FORTIPHY project developed innovative food-based fortification solutions. To ensure the development of solutions tailored to usages and preferences of the target population, end-users (older people, caregivers) were included early in the project through co-creation.
A first step was to build a database of high-protein ingredients on the European market (animal and plant protein concentrates and isolates). Eleven high-protein ingredients were selected taking into account their nutritional and sensory impact as well as sustainability and regulatory issues. In a second step, technological constraints of using the selected ingredients within various food matrices were assessed and focus groups were conducted with older people and caregivers to gather insights on attitudes to usage of these high-protein ingredients. Based on these results, several fortified recipes were designed and home-usage tests were conducted in three countries (France, Norway, UK, n=50 people aged over 70) to evaluate the recipes for palatability and ease of preparation. The project led to the development of 8 basic recipes that can be tailored to suit different tastes. Each recipe provides an additional load of 10-12 g of protein and 250-300 kcal per day.
Origin | Files produced by the author(s) |
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