NU-AGE (New dietary strategies addressing the specific needs of the elderly population for healthy ageing in Europe) is a 5-year research project that intends to investigate nutrition as a modulator of age-related outcomes, funded under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration.
The specific objectives of NU-AGE are:
- to counteract the physical/cognitive decline by a whole diet intervention;
- to assess the effect of a 65+ food pyramid using biomarkers to identify the mechanisms responsible for the whole diet effect;
- to perform genetic and epigenetic studies to assess the role of individual variability in this effect;
- to conduct an integrative comprehensive analysis of the whole data set.
Based on the knowledge gained, elderlytailored functional foods will be develop and the best ways to communicate dietary recommendations to those over 65 will be explored.
NU-AGE will support EU strategies on nutritional recommendations, thus contributing to the implementation of legislation related to nutrition and health claims for the elderly in Europe.
NU-AGE is a multidisciplinary consortium consisting of 31 partners from 17 European countries. Involved are research institutes, food and biotech companies and associations of the European food and drink industry, including FoodDrinkEurope.