Aupalesens: Proposing new solutions to fight malnutrition in the elderly
With the ageing of populations, malnutrition in the elderly has become a major health concern in France, as in the majority of western countries. Malnutrition corresponds to a deficit in nutritional intake in terms of calories and/or nutrients and micronutrients. If left untreated, it leads to a reduction in mobility, an increased risk of falls and fractures, vulnerability to infectious diseases and worsening of chronic diseases.
A multidisciplinary approach
At present, the treatment of malnutrition in elderly people is based essentially on "nutritional" strategies (giving nutritional advice, use of food supplements). In this context, the aim of the AUPALESENS project was to test the effectiveness of "sensory" strategies to prevent and combat malnutrition in the elderly. More specifically, this project allowed:
- the measurement of the impact of sensorial, psychological and sociological factors on the feeding behaviour and the nutritional status of the elderly person. This work was based on a multidisciplinary survey of 559 French senior citizens aged over 65 years and presenting varying degrees of dependency (autonomous persons living at home, persons receiving home help, and persons living in institutions);
- the identification of levers for improving the palatability and the pleasure of meals for dependent elderly persons. This involved developing and testing means and strategies for improving firstly the sensory quality of the food offered to the elderly (the content of the plate) and secondly the context of the meal (making the meal a meaningful event in itself again);
- an evaluation of the impact of sensory levers on food intake during a meal. This evaluation involved producing some 100 experimental meals within various institutions in order to measure the quantities ingested by the elderly according to the proposed sensorial enhancements.
Effective levers for restoring the desire to eat
These studies have shown that the enhancement of a single contextual element, such as the presence of condiments on the table, or the variety of food in the plate, can be enough to increase the pleasure associated with the meal and/or the food intake, and that a change in the environment and the re-involvement of the elderly at mealtimes would appear to be effective ways of restoring the desire to eat and ultimately help combat malnutrition.
AUPALESENS was funded by ANR under the call for proposals for the 2009 edition of the Food and Food Industry programme "ALIA". This project, coordinated by Virginie Van Wymelbeke, includes seven academic research organisations, namely the Geriatric Internal Medicine Research Unit of the Champmaillot Hospital in Dijon, the Angers ESA (School of Agricultural Studies), the Sensometrics and Chemiometrics Unit of the ONIRIS in Nantes, the Aliss UMR (Mixed Research Unit) of INRA (National Agronomic Research Institute) Paris, the CSGA UMR of INRA Dijon, the Endocrinology and Diabetology Department of the Angers CHU (University Hospital Centre), and the Department of Psychology of Ages of the François Rabelais University in Tours; as well as seven private structures: Les Repas Santé, Livrac groupe Terrena, Frutarom, Lactalis, Cecab d’Aucy, and Entremont Alliance. The AUPALESENS project is labelled by the Valorial® and Vitagora® French competitiveness clusters.
Find out more:
- The project website
- Presentation of the project on the Vitagora website
