Global screening and individual counterstrike

The prevention of age-related loss of skeletal muscle mass will have positive effects on each elderly person’s quality of life and simultaneously diminish the economic burden on society.

The lipoprotein particle distribution predicts cardiovascular outcomes and is associated with obesity and insulin resistance. Body weight decreases with age, whereas a more atherogenic lipid profile is common, but little is known about the lipoprotein particle distribution in elderly people or the effect of exercise.

Elderly lose up 2% of their skeletal muscle-mass per year, a condition termed "sarcopenia". In the coming years human longevity will increase in Western societies with huge socio-economic consequences. Thus, the ageing population should be encouraged to remain self-supportive, not only to diminish the economic burden for society, but also to retain their quality of life. University of Copenhagen is currently starting an ambitious intervention study “Counteracting Age-related Loss of Skeletal Muscle Mass (CALM)” aimed at providing evidence-based recommendations for alleviating sarcopenia through protein supplementation and exercise. The project includes collection of a large number of blood and faecal samples to determine the impact of increased protein intake and exercise on the gut microbiota (GM) and the blood metabolome. COUNTERSTRIKE aims to complement the CALM project with a full metabolomic investigation of all its 3000 samples with emphasis on determination of lipoprotein particle distribution (LPD) and linking this to GM metabolomic potential and host physiological parameters.

It is the ambition of this project that include national and international, academic and industrial power centres, to establish a rapid screening method for determination of LPD based on NMR spectroscopy, apply it to the CALM cohort and relate the results to GM and host metabolism and ultimately making it available for future research in for example personalized nutrition. The new screening method will allow for global screening of elderly to determine individual health status and facilitate a “COUNTERSTRIKE” against sarcopenia on the individual level creating a new business area for the European food industry.

It is the ambition of this consortium, including national and international, academic and industrial partners, to establish a rapid screening method to determine the lipoprotein particle distribution based on nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, apply it to the CALM cohort and link the results to gut microbiota and host metabolism, making them available for future research.

A new spectroscopy-based screening method will enable the global screening of elderly people to determine each individual’s health status and allow for an individual “counterstrike” against sarcopenia.