HNRCA scientists co-facilitated RCCN workshop 'Promoting Healthy Aging Through Nutrition'
The workshop's findings were published in 'Advances in Nutrition'
The RCCN (Research Centers Collaborative Network of the National Institute on Aging, NIH) workshop on Promoting Healthy Aging Through Nutrition, held July 20-21, 2023, included sessions on dietary patterns in health and disease, timing and targeting interventions, and health disparities and the social context of diet and food choice. Opportunities to address research gaps about the role of nutrition in healthy aging, identified through the workshop proceedings, are outlined below.
Workshop Summary:
- Consider the role of dietary patterns in health and disease
- Develop and tailor dietary strategies to the individual needs and health conditions of older adults
- Conduct mechanistic studies to understand how diet affects the molecular pathways underlying the different types of dementia
- Design and conduct rigorous randomized controlled feeding studies to determine the efficacy of different dietary approaches in mitigating age-related diseases and disabilities
- Incorporate mental health assessments as outcomes in dietary intervention studies focused on cognition
- Assess dietary requirements and intakes of older adults
- Determine how energy requirements and dietary and nutritional needs change across the full range of older adulthood
- Incorporate novel objective measures of dietary exposure, such as photo-based approaches, into diet and nutrition studies in culturally and socioeconomically diverse populations
- Consider the timing and targeting of interventions across the lifespan
- Obtain stronger prospective cohort data to better understand how diet and nutrition early in the life course, such as during the perinatal and adolescence periods, influences chronic diseases in older age
- Expand chrono nutrition research to clarify the role of meal timing in age-related disease and disability
- Leverage artificial intelligence to deepen our understanding of the microbiome's influence on chronic disease outcomes and to develop microbiome-based interventions that mitigate age-related diseases and geriatric syndromes
- Consider the impact of health disparities and the social context of diet and food choice
- Promote research focused on the inter-relationship of social isolation, diet, and well-being in culturally diverse groups of older adults
- Tailor dietary recommendations and education programs to the cultural, migratory, and dietary experiences among the rapidly growing and diverse aging population
- Monitor the implementation and evaluation of local, state, and national programs that impact dietary behaviors and access to nutrition resources for older adults
Full Report:
A report of the workshop's findings was published in "Perspective: Promoting Healthy Aging through Nutrition: A Research Centers Collaborative Network Workshop Report" (Advances in Nutrition, Volume 15, Issue 4, 2024, 100199)