MedTrace Logo

Anabolic Response to Beef vs Plant Protein in (Pre)Frail Older Adults Using a Novel Stable Isotope Pulse Method

NCT07254403 · Status: RECRUITING · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 60

Last updated 2025-11-28

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Frailty is a common clinical syndrome in older adults that increases the risk for poor health outcomes including falls, disability, hospitalization, and mortality. Previous research showed increased protein needs and reduced anabolic response to meals in older adults, indicating the need for proteins with a high anabolic capacity to prevent and attenuate physical and cognitive health decline throughout the frailty cycle. Recently, more people have chosen to eliminate animal (i.e., beef) products from their diets which is concerning because of beef's anabolic properties due to high essential amino acid (EAA) levels and many other positive health effects. The Researchers' recently developed stable isotope amino acid pulse method enables measurement of the true intracellular anabolic response to a meal and bioavailability of food-derived amino acids. The research objective is to examine differences in the anabolic response and bioavailability of individual EAA and non-essential amino acids (NEAA) in beef as compared to plant protein in older adults with and without (pre-)frailty.

Conditions

  • Protein Metabolism

Interventions

OTHER

Beef

Beef, ground, 93% lean meat / 7% fat, patty, cooked, broiled: 100g = 26.2 g protein

OTHER

Tofu

Fried tofu: 100g = 18.8 g protein

OTHER

Placebo

water (to correct the anabolic data obtained after intake of the proteins for baseline (postabsorptive) values

Sponsors & Collaborators

Principal Investigators

  • Marielle Engelen · Texas A&M University

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
OTHER
Masking
NONE
Model
CROSSOVER

Eligibility

Min Age
65 Years
Max Age
95 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2025-10-31
Primary Completion
2026-12-31
Completion
2026-12-31

Countries

  • United States

Study Locations

More Related Trials

Entities

Companies

Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT07254403 on ClinicalTrials.gov