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Millions of kroners awarded to research into healthy ageing

Around one in three people over the age of 70 are considered to be partially frail. Nutritionists are now going to investigate whether diet can prevent frailty, and to what extent.

The picture shows a woman with brown hair in a garden

Professor Anette Hjartåker aim to find out more about the extent to which diet can affect frailty in old age.

According to the epidemiologist Linda Fried, you are considered frail if you suffer from three or more of the following five characteristics: unintentional weight loss, exhaustion, reduced walking speed, low level of physical activity and reduced grip strength.

A team of researchers working on the project NutriFrail at the Institute of Basic Medical Sciences aim to find out more about the extent to which diet can affect frailty in old age.

The researchers recently received the good news that their project has been awarded a large grant from the Throne Holst Foundation.

– It is fantastic that we have been awarded this grant!, says professor and project leader Anette Hjartåker at the Department of Nutrition.

Increasing number of old people

Hjartåker’s team are involving all three sections at the Department in order to look at frailty and nutrition from both an epidemiological, clinical and molecular point of view. According to the professor, this approach makes their project unique compared to previous studies of this kind.

– The proportion of elderly people in the population of Norway and the world is increasing and it is important both for individuals and for society as a whole to acquire more knowledge about how to promote healthy ageing since this has a major impact on the quality of life of each individual and on socio-economics.

Hjartåker explains that the team will conduct different studies on mice and on elderly women and men living at home.
–  We will also include population surveys, where the same participants have been followed up over a period of several decades. In this way, we can uncover changes that occur in the long term.

Hopes to give advice about diet  

Based on Fried’s definition of frailty, the researchers estimate that one in twenty-five elderly people in Norway can be characterised as frail.

– However, the proportion who are partially frail is far higher: around 30 to 40 per cent of those over 70 years old, says the professor.

–  Is the goal that the project will result in specific dietary advice to prevent frailty?

–  Yes, in the long run, we hope that the results of the project can contribute to advice on diet. There are various degrees of frailty, and it can be reversed. We hope that NutriFrail will lead to a better understanding of the syndrome so that we are more able to prevent it, concludes Hjartåker.

By Cecilie Bakken Høstmark
Published June 22, 2021 8:22 PM - Last modified June 22, 2021 8:22 PM