The Effect of Web-Based Culinary Medicine to Enhance Protein Intake on Muscle Quality in Older Adults: Randomized Controlled Trial.

BACKGROUND: The most common age-related musculoskeletal disorder is sarcopenia. Sarcopenia is the progressive and generalized loss of muscle mass, strength, and function. The causes of sarcopenia can include insufficient nutritional status, which may be due to protein-energy malnutrition, anorexia, limited food access and eating ability, or malabsorption. In the United States, 15.51% of older adults have been diagnosed with sarcopenia. Culinary medicine (CM) is a novel evidence-based medical field that combines the science of medicine with food and cooking to prevent and treat potential chronic diseases. CM helps individuals learn and practice culinary skills while tasting new recipes. Therefore, this program could successfully reduce barriers to protein intake, enabling older adults to enhance their diet and muscle quality. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to examine how a web-based CM intervention, emphasizing convenient ways to increase lean red meat intake, could improve protein intake with the promotion of physical activity to see how this intervention could affect older adults' muscle strength and mass. METHODS: A 16-week, single-center, parallel-group, randomized controlled trial was conducted to compare a web-based CM intervention group (CMG) with a control group (CG) while monitoring each group's muscle strength, muscle mass, and physical activity for muscle quality. The CMG received weekly web-based cooking demonstrations and biweekly nutrition education videos about enhancing protein intake, whereas the CG just received the recipe handout. Anthropometrics, muscle mass, muscle strength, dietary habits, physical activity, and cooking effectiveness were established at baseline and measured after the intervention. The final number of participants for the data analysis was 24 in the CMG and 23 in the CG. RESULTS: No between-group difference in muscle mass (P=.88) and strength (dominant P=.92 and nondominant P=.72) change from the prestudy visit was detected. No statistically significant difference in protein intake was seen between the groups (P=.50). A nonsignificant time-by-intervention interaction was observed for daily protein intake (P=.08). However, a statistically significant time effect was observed (P≤.001). Post hoc testing showed that daily protein intake was significantly higher at weeks 1 to 16 versus week 0 (P<.05). At week 16, the intake was 16.9 (95% CI 5.77-27.97) g higher than that at the prestudy visit. CONCLUSIONS: This study did not affect protein intake and muscle quality. Insufficient consistent protein intake, low physical activity, intervention adherence, and questionnaire accuracy could explain the results. These studies could include an interdisciplinary staff, different recruitment strategies, and different muscle mass measurements. Future research is needed to determine if this intervention is sustainable in the long term and should incorporate a follow-up to determine program efficacy on several long-term behavioral and health outcomes, including if the participants can sustain their heightened protein intake and how their cooking skills have changed. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05593978; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT05593978.

Effectiveness of Home-Based Exercise and Nutrition Programs for Senior Adults on Muscle Outcomes: A Scoping Review.

This scoping review investigates the volume of evidence for home-based exercise and nutrition programs and their effect on muscle quality among senior adults to inform implementation and future research. It aims to answer the research question: What are the evidence, challenges, and needs for research regarding a home-based exercise and nutrition intervention program to improve muscle outcomes in senior adults? This scoping review was conducted following the PRISMA extension for Scoping Review. The following databases were searched: PubMed, Scopus, MEDLINE, CINAHL, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library. Applied filters were used to help condense the research articles. A total of 13 studies met the inclusion criteria for this scoping review. Most exercise interventions were either resistance or multi-component exercise programs. The nature of the nutrition intervention varied between different supplements, foods, education, or counseling. Muscle outcomes included muscle mass in nine studies, muscle function in all the studies, muscle strength in ten studies, and biochemical analyses in two studies. Two studies found improvements in muscle mass; two studies revealed improvements in all their muscle function tests; and three studies revealed improvements in muscle strength. Muscle biopsy in a study revealed enhanced muscle fibers, but both studies did not reveal any biomarker improvements. The scoping review findings revealed mixed results on the effectiveness of a home-based exercise and nutrition program. However, the current evidence does have many gaps to address before recommending this form of intervention for senior adults as an effective way to prevent and manage sarcopenia. Since this review identified multiple knowledge gaps, strengths, and limitations in this growing field, it can be a starting point to help build future study designs and interventions in this population.

Behavior Change Effectiveness Using Nutrition Apps in People With Chronic Diseases: Scoping Review.

BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes mellitus, and obesity are common chronic diseases, and their prevalence is reaching an epidemic level worldwide. As the impact of chronic diseases continues to increase, finding strategies to improve care, access to care, and patient empowerment becomes increasingly essential. Health care providers use mobile health (mHealth) to access clinical information, collaborate with care teams, communicate over long distances with patients, and facilitate real-time monitoring and interventions. However, these apps focus on improving general health care concerns, with limited apps focusing on specific chronic diseases and the nutrition involved in the disease state. Hence, available evidence on the effectiveness of mHealth apps toward behavior change to improve chronic disease outcomes is limited. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this scoping review was to provide an overview of behavior change effectiveness using mHealth nutrition interventions in people with chronic diseases (ie, cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus, cancer, and obesity). We further evaluated the behavior change techniques and theories or models used for behavior change, if any. METHODS: A scoping review was conducted through a systematic literature search in the MEDLINE, EBSCO, PubMed, ScienceDirect, and Scopus databases. Studies were excluded from the review if they did not involve an app or nutrition intervention, were written in a language other than English, were duplicates from other database searches, or were literature reviews. Following the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) 2020 guidelines, the systematic review process included 4 steps: identification of records through the database search, screening of duplicate and excluded records, eligibility assessment of full-text records, and final analysis of included records. RESULTS: In total, 46 studies comprising 256,430 patients were included. There was diversity in the chronic disease state, study design, number of participants, in-app features, behavior change techniques, and behavior models used in the studies. In addition, our review found that less than half (19/46, 41%) of the studies based their nutrition apps on a behavioral theory or its constructs. Of the 46 studies, 11 (24%) measured maintenance of health behavior change, of which 7 (64%) sustained behavior change for approximately 6 to 12 months and 4 (36%) showed a decline in behavior change or discontinued app use. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that mHealth apps involving nutrition can significantly improve health outcomes in people with chronic diseases. Tailoring nutrition apps to specific populations is recommended for effective behavior change and improvement of health outcomes. In addition, some studies (7/46, 15%) showed sustained health behavior change, and some (4/46, 9%) showed a decline in the use of nutrition apps. These results indicate a need for further investigation on the sustainability of the health behavior change effectiveness of disease-specific nutrition apps.