Increasing Protein Intake to Help Older Adults Increase Muscle Strength and Function: A Pilot, Single-Arm Investigation Using Coaching and a Per-Meal Protein Prescription.

Objective: To evaluate the effects of nutrition education, diet coaching, and a protein prescription (PP) on protein intake, and associations with muscle strength and function.

Design: Prospective pretest posttest single-arm study.

Setting: Urban area, East coast of South Florida. Participants: 20 white, non-Hispanic adults, aged 73.3 + 10.4 years.

Intervention: 10-week telephone-based diet coaching, nutrition education and a per-meal PP.

Measurements: Protein and energy intakes, weight, grip strength (GS), and 5-chair-rise (5CR), timed up and go (TUG), 3-meter walk (3mW) tests at baseline and 10 weeks.

Results: Pre to 10-week post values significantly improved (p<0.05) for protein intake/kg body weight (0.8 + 0.3 to 1.2 + 0.3g), protein intake/meal (17.2 ± 4.8g to 26.4 ± 6.g), protein intake/100 kcal (3.74 + 1.16 to 5.97 + 0.98g), GS (22.4 to 23.4kg), and times for TUG (10 to 8sec), 3mW (4 to 3sec), and 5CR (13 to 11sec).

Conclusions: Given the positive findings of this unique pilot investigation, additional studies, which include a larger more diverse group of participants and provide for control group(s), are needed to better investigate the effectiveness of this approach and its effects on muscle strength and function.