Dietary Modification Intervention Involving Family Support (FamNUTRI) for Managing Sarcopenic Obesity Among Community-dwelling Older Adults

Launched by THE HONG KONG POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY · Apr 17, 2025

Keywords

ClinConnect Summary

This clinical trial, called FamNUTRI, is looking to see if a special dietary program that includes support from family can help older adults manage a condition called sarcopenic obesity. Sarcopenic obesity means having too much fat and not enough muscle, which can be common in older adults. The study will compare two groups: one that gets family support along with dietary changes, and another that only changes their diet, to find out if having family help makes a difference.

To participate, you must be 65 years or older, live in the community, and share meals with family at least four times a week. You'll need a family member to join you in the sessions. If you qualify, you can expect to attend six one-hour meetings over 15 weeks and receive phone calls to help you stick to a specific diet that focuses on lower calories and higher protein. This trial is not yet recruiting participants, but it's designed to see if this approach is practical and beneficial for managing sarcopenic obesity among older adults.

Gender

ALL

Eligibility criteria

• Inclusion Criteria:
• • 1. older adults aged 65 years old or above who are living in the community and have not less than 4 shared meals with family weekly
• • 2. having a family member consent to offer support to the study participant
• • 3. diagnosed as having sarcopenic obesity using the diagnostic criteria of Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia (AWGS) for sarcopenia and definition from WHO for obesity for Asian, respectively: 3a)early-stage sarcopenia is defined by meeting one of the following criteria: low handgrip strength \<28 kg for men and \<18 kg for women, low appendicular skeletal muscle mass (ASM) /height2 \< 7 kg/m2 for men and \<5.7 kg/m2 for women, or low physical performance with a Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB) score of \< 9; 3b) Obesity is defined by meeting one of the following criteria: BMI ≥25 kg/m2, waist circumference ≥ 90 cm in men and ≥ 80 cm in women, or percentage of body fat \>30%
• • 4. ability to read, write and understand Chinese without severe speaking, hearing and vision problems for intervention delivery.
• Exclusion Criteria:
• • 1. having any existing disease or condition that affects digestion or food intake, such as severe heart diseases, renal diseases, depression or advanced stages of cancer
• • 2. having medications that impact dietary patterns, digestion, or metabolism
• • 3. following specific dietary pattern or restrictions, such as diabetic diets and renal diets
• • 4. having alcohol addiction defined by Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) scoring 8 or above since it may affect their ability and their determination to make changes in dietary modification
• • 5. having medical implants such as a pacemaker since the equipment to carry out bioelectric impedance analysis (Inbody S10) may cause malfunctioning of the implanted devices.