Faculty of Nursing, Catholic University of Murcia, 30107 Murcia, Spain.
LARES chair for social and health care of elderly people, LARES Nursing Home Association, 30500 Murcia, Spain.
Nutrients. 2019 Jan 5;11(1):102. doi: 10.3390/nu11010102.
Frailty syndrome is a medical condition that is characterised by a functional decline, usually from 65 years old on, and creates the need for assistance to perform daily living activities. As the population ages, the need for specialised geriatric care will increase immensely, and consequently, the need for specialised services for the care of these people will increase accordingly. From a nutritional point of view, to control or balance the nutritional status of residents will be essential in order to prevent sarcopenia and, consequently, frailty development. In this line, previous studies have highlighted the association among low energy intake, inadequate intake of protein and vitamin D, and an increased risk of frailty development. However, there is a lack of intervention studies on frail patients, especially in the realm of quality clinical trials. The few studies performed to date seem to indicate that there is a protective role of protein supplementation against frailty syndrome. In this regard, it is tempting to suggest daily 30 g protein supplements to prevent frailty. However, it is well established that excess protein can also be harmful; therefore, specific individual characteristics should be considered before prescribing these supplements. On the other hand, the relevance of other nutritional interventions, such as vitamin D, omega-3, and medium-chain triglycerides, is much more scarce in the literature. Therefore, we encourage the development of new clinical trials to carry out effective therapies to prevent frailty development.
衰弱综合征是一种医学病症,其特征是功能下降,通常从 65 岁开始,并需要帮助才能完成日常生活活动。随着人口老龄化,对专业老年护理的需求将大幅增加,因此,相应地对这些人进行专业护理的需求也会增加。从营养角度来看,控制或平衡居民的营养状况对于预防肌肉减少症和随之而来的衰弱发展至关重要。在这方面,先前的研究强调了能量摄入低、蛋白质和维生素 D 摄入不足与衰弱发展风险增加之间的关联。然而,目前缺乏针对虚弱患者的干预研究,特别是在高质量临床试验领域。迄今为止进行的少数研究似乎表明,蛋白质补充对衰弱综合征具有保护作用。在这方面,每天补充 30 克蛋白质以预防衰弱症似乎很有吸引力。然而,众所周知,过量的蛋白质也可能有害;因此,在开这些补充剂之前,应考虑具体的个体特征。另一方面,维生素 D、ω-3 和中链甘油三酯等其他营养干预措施的相关性在文献中更为稀缺。因此,我们鼓励开展新的临床试验,以开展有效的治疗方法来预防衰弱的发展。