To respond to the demand of seniors who seek to maintain good health, the food industry strives to offer products with a tailored nutritional profile and a modified texture to address
- small appetites
- dental problems
- dysphagia
- taste and smell deficiencies, etc.
The aim is to supply nutritional products that are as indulgent, attractive and functional as their regular counterparts that have been developed for other demographics.
The decline of both physical and mental capabilities with age can lead to a decrease in mobility and a reduced food intake. Weight loss can be important and diseases such as sarcopenia and osteopenia can appear. Proteins are extremely important to maintain the integrity of muscle mass and bone mass.
At the age of 40–50 years old, a reduction of muscular mass begins to take place. It represents a loss of 3–8% of muscle mass every 10 years, which is a precursor to sarcopenia.
It is important to provide enough proteins to the body to increase muscular protein synthesis. Leucine, an essential amino acid, is necessary to trigger this process.
After the age of 50, seniors experience progressive bone weakening or osteopenia. When the first complications appear and the bones start to weaken, the risk of fractures increases. At this point, it's important to strengthen the bone mass to delay osteoporosis and improve overall bone health.
If nothing is done, the typical bone demineralisation process of osteoporosis can have disastrous consequences:
- 8.9 million fractures are caused by osteoporosis annually in the world
- 1 out of 3 women old than 50 years old will suffer from osteoporosis.
