Project description
Slowing disability with adequate protein intake
The European population is ageing mainly because of increased life expectancy and decreased fertility. However, many of the extra years of life expectancy are not completely free of disability. Proper nutrition and physical activity are essential for health, and play a big part in delaying disability. The EU-funded InDEPENDEnt project has been trying to find the optimal level of dietary protein to slow down disability progression in older people. The project is also exploring how the beneficial effects of protein on physical function and disability can be strengthened by coordinating with physical activity.
Objective
The European population is ageing but, for many countries and Portugal in particular, the extra years of life are not free of disability. Diet is known to be important for health and dietary protein specifically for maintaining physical function, though few European countries have good data on the impact of protein malnutrition on disability in later life. In the Impact of Dietary Protein on Disability in ageing Europeans (InDEPENDEnt) project, I will contribute to the World Health Organisation’s goal of maintaining the functional capacity of older people by conducting the first meta-analysis of European data to determine the optimal level of dietary protein (and in relation to physical activity) to slow disability progression and provide the first reliable estimates of how many cases of disability could be prevented by an adequate protein intake in Portugal. To undertake the project I will move from Newcastle University (UNEW, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK) to the Universidade Nova de Lisboa (UNL, Lisboa, Portugal) to increase my knowledge of musculoskeletal health and disability, in addition bringing an existing collaboration in nutritional epidemiology and ageing from the Vrije University, Amsterdam. My overall objective is to build on my expertise in nutritional epidemiology and functional outcomes in gerontology, while gaining professional independence.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
MSCA-IF-EF-ST - Standard EFCoordinator
1099 085 Lisboa
Portugal