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

Part of paid clinical trials in College Station, Texas.

Sponsor
Texas A&M University
Study ID
NCT07254403
Status
Recruiting
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Conditions

  • Protein Metabolism

Eligibility Criteria

Sex
ALL
Age
65 Years - 95 Years
Healthy Volunteers
Accepted

Interventions

  • Beef — OTHER
    Beef, ground, 93% lean meat / 7% fat, patty, cooked, broiled: 100g = 26.2 g protein
  • Tofu — OTHER
    Fried tofu: 100g = 18.8 g protein
  • Placebo — OTHER
    water (to correct the anabolic data obtained after intake of the proteins for baseline (postabsorptive) values

Study Details

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.

Key Dates

Start date
Oct 31, 2025
Status verified
Nov 2025
Primary completion
Dec 31, 2026
Completion
Dec 31, 2026

Study Design

Enrollment
60 participants (estimated)
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
CROSSOVER
Primary purpose
OTHER

Arms

  • Experimental: Frail older adults
    based on the Fried index
  • Experimental: Pre-Frail Older Adults
    based on the Fried index
  • Experimental: Non-Frail Older Adults
    based on the Fried index

Primary Outcome Measure

Protein and amino acid synthesis capacity of beef and soy protein in older adults measured by the use of stable isotope tracers [ Time Frame: 6 weeks ]

Central Contacts

Locations (1)

FacilityCityStateZIPSite coordinators
Texas A&M UniversityCollege StationTexas77843
Marielle P Engelen, PhD
[email protected]
979-220-2282

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Texas A&M University· College Station, TX

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