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Anabolic Response to Beef vs Plant Protein in (Pre)Frail Older Adults Using a Novel Stable Isotope Pulse Method
Sponsor: Texas A&M University
Summary
Frailty is a common clinical syndrome in older adults that increases the risk for poor health outcomes including falls, disability, hospitalization, and mortality. Previous research showed increased protein needs and reduced anabolic response to meals in older adults, indicating the need for proteins with a high anabolic capacity to prevent and attenuate physical and cognitive health decline throughout the frailty cycle. Recently, more people have chosen to eliminate animal (i.e., beef) products from their diets which is concerning because of beef's anabolic properties due to high essential amino acid (EAA) levels and many other positive health effects. The Researchers' recently developed stable isotope amino acid pulse method enables measurement of the true intracellular anabolic response to a meal and bioavailability of food-derived amino acids. The research objective is to examine differences in the anabolic response and bioavailability of individual EAA and non-essential amino acids (NEAA) in beef as compared to plant protein in older adults with and without (pre-)frailty.
Key Details
Gender
All
Age Range
65 Years - 95 Years
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Enrollment
60
Start Date
2025-10-31
Completion Date
2026-12
Last Updated
2025-11-28
Healthy Volunteers
Yes
Conditions
Interventions
Beef
Beef, ground, 93% lean meat / 7% fat, patty, cooked, broiled: 100g = 26.2 g protein
Tofu
Fried tofu: 100g = 18.8 g protein
Placebo
water (to correct the anabolic data obtained after intake of the proteins for baseline (postabsorptive) values
Locations (1)
Texas A&M University
College Station, Texas, United States