Aims and objectives
Ageing of the global population has become a public health concern,
considering the impact of age-related diseases in terms of healthcare and social costs [1].
One of the health problems that is emerging is frailty,
a clinical syndrome in which three or more of the following criteria are present: unintentional weight loss (10 lbs in past year),
self-reported exhaustion,
weakness (grip strength),
slow walking speed,
and low physical activity [2].
Ageing is a biological process associated with the development of low-grade chronic inflammation and deterioration...
Methods and materials
The “New dietary strategies addressing the specific needs of elderly population for a healthy ageing in Europe” (NU-AGE,
http://www.nu-age.eu/) is a large consortium with 30 partners,
from 16 EU countries,
aiming at studying the effect of an elderly-tailored Mediterranean diet by enrolling healthy volunteers of 65 years of age and over in a one year randomized,
multicenter,
single-blind,
controlled trial with two parallel groups (i.e.,
dietary intervention and control) (clinicaltrial.gov: NCT01754012) [10].
In the present framework of the NU-AGE study,
a cross-sectional analysis of BC...
Results
Beta-diversity of the microbial communities is represented by Principal Coordinate analysis (PCoA) of the unweighted Unifrac distances.
Three distinct groups of individuals with different microbiota composition were identified (Fig.
1) (Permanova p-value = 0.0001): group A (n=147),
group B (n=20) and group C (n=34).
No differences between non-frail/pre-frail or male/female subjects were observed.
A significantly different relative abundance of the Families Porphyromonadaceae,
Christensenellaceae and Lachnospiraceae was identified among the three groups (P < 0.05,
Kruskal Wallis test) (Fig.
2 - Table 1).
The comparative analysis...
Conclusion
The present study is an attempt to identify a model of body composition and gut microbiota that could be useful to define better individual at higher risk for frailty syndrome and other age-related diseases.
In our cohort,
3 distinct groups were identified based on gut microbiota composition,
independently of frailty status or sex.
Among these groups,
a significant association was found between group B,
i.e.
the group showing significantly lower levels of VAT,
and a higher relative abundance of members of the Christensenellaceae family.
No...
References
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Calçada D,
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