The ageing of the population is a global challenge and the period of life spent in good health, although increasing, is not keeping pace with lifespan. Consequently, understanding the important factors that contribute to healthy ageing and validating interventions and influencing policy to promote healthy ageing are vital research priorities. The PANINI project is a collaboration of 20 partners across Europe examining the influence of physical activity and nutrition in ageing. PANINI uses a wide range of research methods and treatments to understand and improve healthy ageing. These range from the biological to the social; from genetics to the influence of social context. For example, epigenetic, immune system, and psychological assessments, and nutritional and sports science-based interventions have been used among older adults, as well as mathematical modelling and following up disease across the lifespan. The projects are multi-disciplinary and examine health outcomes in ageing from a range of perspectives to contribute to our understanding of predictors of healthy and unhealthy ageing. PANINI also conducted significant public engagement activities with older adults, health professionals and key organisations to disseminate the latest evidence-based health messages to important audiences. PANINI has developed a toolkit of standardized best practice measures for assessing physical activity and nutrition as well as other important related outcomes for older people in a range of settings. These include hospital inpatient, outpatient, care home and community-dwelling older adults. This is important so we can compare the effectiveness of different treatments. This toolkit will be made widely available on the PANINI website. PANINI researchers have produced extensive reviews of the scientific literature on relevant topics such as the occurrence of frailty in hospital patients, sedentary behaviour prevalence, sedentary behaviour and physical function, dietary pattern impact on cognition and brain imaging measures, and the impact of interventions to reduce sedentary time.
Across PANINI it was possible to combine and share datasets and test key markers of ageing, and model the contribution of factors such as genetics and muscle metabolomics to muscle function, frailty and survival. PANINI researchers have studied in detail the predictors of different measures of health and wellbeing among middle-aged and older people including hormones, muscle strength and function, genetics, and stress. The biological mechanisms have been investigated including how these factors interact with nutrition choices and physical activity engagement. PANINI has also explored the factors predicting knowledge and choice of different dietary and physical activity advice, providing vital information regarding the potential targets for intervention and policy guidance. Finally, PANINI has developed and tested nutritional and physical activity interventions in a range of settings and older adult populations in terms of their impact on cognitive, psychological, social, and physical function measures, leading to conclusions regarding the feasibility of such interventions as well as the impact of intervention adherence. The PANINI project has been addressing the impact of physical activity and nutrition on healthy ageing from diverse but interlinked perspectives. It emphasises the importance of using standardized measures and the advantages of combining data to compare biomarkers and interventions across different settings and typologies of older adults. As the projects conclude, the current results and final data will form part of a shared dataset, which will be made open access for other researchers into ageing processes.
