Ensuring quality of later life through protein and fibre supplementation

As global populations age, the question of how to maintain quality of life in later years has become increasingly pressing.

While advances in healthcare have extended life expectancy in many countries, longevity alone is not a sufficient measure of wellbeing. The focus has shifted towards ensuring that additional years are lived in good health, with the capacity for independence and engagement in daily life. In Asia, this is particularly important because of the twin trends of broadly increasing lifespan and declining birth rates, which are resulting in a larger proportion of older adults.

Achieving the goal of a healthier lifespan requires addressing several key barriers that commonly emerge with age: reduced physical activity, poor dietary intake, increased susceptibility to illness, and difficulties with stress and sleep regulation.

Nutrition plays a critical role in overcoming many of these challenges, not just for older individuals but for anyone seeking to live healthier lives. However, targeted supplementation has gained attention as a practical means of specifically supporting older adults’ health. In particular, additional protein and fibre intake may help address declines in muscle mass and digestive health, two factors closely linked to mobility, immunity and overall wellbeing.

For older people, both protein and fibre have been identified as nutrients that are often lacking in their diets, making them a key target to improve overall ageing.¹⁻² By supporting more active and resilient ageing, such dietary interventions offer a potential path towards improved health outcomes and greater autonomy for older individuals. This is why Roquette is focused on pushing forward scientific research into plant-based proteins and fibre to support healthy ageing across the Asia region, and beyond.

Metabolic health

Ageing and metabolic health are strongly connected, with age being a significant risk factor for developing metabolic diseases in older adults.³ These include diseases such as obesity and type 2 diabetes, which already pose a substantial threat to public health and could be further exacerbated by an ageing global population.

Research has shown that one potential means of reducing the risk of metabolic disease could be achieved through an increase in protein consumption. A recent meta-analysis of 154 controlled trials showed that supplementing glucose intake with animal or plant protein was able to reduce postprandial glycaemia and stimulated insulin release in healthy adults, indicating a potential for protein’s role in regulating glycaemic responses.⁴

Moreover, in two different clinical studies, pea protein isolate, Nutralys S85 Plus, helped manage post-prandial blood glucose levels in healthy adults.⁵ The studies found that consuming pea protein alongside a high-carbohydrate beverage significantly reduced postprandial blood glucose levels in a dose-dependent manner, with 50g of pea protein lowering glycaemic response by 53% compared to control in one study. Additionally, pea protein intake significantly increased insulin secretion.

Further studies have also shown that higher protein intake is recommended to help people avoid weight gain and aid people with obesity to lose weight.⁶ This is due to protein increasing satiety and having a greater thermic effect when compared to carbohydrate and fat.

A clinical trial on pea protein demonstrated this short-term satiating effect.⁷ Consuming 15g or 30g of Nutralys pea protein in soup significantly reduced subsequent energy intake, comparable to whey protein, indicating effective short-term satiety. Both protein types were found to also lower postprandial glucose and insulin levels, supporting pea protein as a viable plant-based alternative for appetite regulation.

Fibre is another evidence-backed dietary component that is incredibly important for broader health at all stages of life, but possesses specific benefits in metabolic health. Higher intake of fibre has been associated with both weight loss and greater insulin sensitivity.⁸ In addition, a literature review found that dietary fibre influences microbiota composition and metabolic status through microbial short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) production.⁹ SCFAs have been found to enhance insulin sensitivity, strengthen the gut barrier and exhibit anti-inflammatory activity.¹⁰

Recent research on Roquette’s Nutriose soluble fibre reinforces the critical role of dietary fibre in metabolic health by demonstrating that fibre can modulate gut microbiota composition more precisely, enhancing the production of beneficial SCFAs. This targeted modulation further improves insulin sensitivity supporting fibre’s therapeutic potential in managing metabolic disorders.¹¹

Clinical trials have further substantiated the role of Nutriose soluble fibre in regulating satiety and supporting blood glucose management. A four-week randomised controlled trial found that daily supplementation with 14g of soluble fibre significantly increased both fasting and postprandial satiety, beginning 30 minutes after intake, and led to a significant rise in fasting GLP-1 concentrations compared to the control group.¹² A separate three-month study of 34g per day improved biomarkers of metabolic syndrome, including insulin sensitivity and long-term blood glucose control.¹³

Maintaining muscle mass

As people advance in age, it is common for individuals to see a decline in skeletal muscle tissue, and therefore muscle function or strength. The condition, known as sarcopenia, has a variety of causes, but there are some actions that have been shown to help prevent or slow this decline. Increasing physical activity and protein intake have been shown to have significant benefits for older individuals looking to prevent loss of muscle mass.¹⁴

The addition of higher levels of protein to the diet is necessary because older adults are less responsive to the anabolic stimulus of low doses of amino acid intake compared to younger adults.¹⁵ However, this can be overcome by consuming higher levels of protein, with research suggesting that higher intake of plant protein was associated with an increased chance of fewer physical function limitations, as well as showing improvements in mental wellbeing in adults below the age of 60.¹⁶ An additional study found that pea protein was able to help achieve blood amino acid levels that stimulate muscle protein synthesis.¹⁷

For older individuals, there may also be benefits to consuming additional protein beyond recommended levels. A study investigated how supplementary protein sources—pea, whey, and collagen—affect muscle protein synthesis in older men already meeting daily protein requirements. Pea protein significantly outperformed collagen and matched whey in stimulating muscle protein synthesis, overcoming age-related anabolic resistance.¹⁸

The issue of consuming sufficient or increased levels of protein is particularly important in the Asia region, where daily protein intake falls generally below other geographic regions.¹⁹

Enabling an active life

One of the greatest barriers the older population faces in trying to maintain quality of life is ensuring that they are active. Individuals who lose their ability to remain mobile are less likely to remain living at home, as well as having higher rates of disease, disability, hospitalisation and death.²⁰

Ensuring sufficient levels of protein intake is crucial to maintaining health at all stages of life. As previously mentioned, this nutrient is necessary for muscle maintenance, which plays an important part in older individuals remaining mobile. When muscle mass is lost with age, there is a subsequent loss of leg and core strength, both integral for better walking, standing and balance. In turn, this can lead to a higher risk of falls and injuries, further reducing mobility. An older individual’s level of protein intake has been linked to mobility, with lower intake of protein associated with an increased risk of mobility limitation.²¹

The same finding has also been found in relation to dietary fibre intake in older adults. A study revealed that, adjusted for other factors, individuals with higher fibre intake had significantly faster gait speed, longer six-minute walk distance and higher hand grip strength.²² Beyond directly impacting physical performance, higher dietary fibre consumption was linked with a lower body mass and enhanced body composition, characterised by a reduction in fat mass and an increase in lean mass.²³

With obesity becoming more common across all ages, the potential for supplementation to reduce body weight could aid not only overall health, but specifically mobility and the ability to be physically active into later life.

Day-to-day resilience

The number of health challenges facing older adults makes single supplements, which provide evidence-backed nutrients, invaluable tools in ensuring a greater quality of life. The latest research suggests that fibre can provide broader secondary benefits beyond gut health, such as the advantages previously mentioned in metabolic health.

There is an increasing body of research that suggests the gut microbiome could also be a contributory factor in ageing-related health loss.²⁴ Additional research has shown that the gut microbiota of elderly humans is markedly different from that of young and middle-aged adults, with immune dysregulation and ageing-associated pathologies coinciding with this shift.²⁵

By promoting the production of SCFAs, fibre enhances intestinal barrier integrity and regulates tight junction proteins, thus reducing gut permeability and systemic inflammation.²⁶ Additionally, fibre intake has been associated with improved mood and reduced depressive symptoms, potentially through modulation of the gut-brain axis.²⁷ Research also found that supplementary fibre was able to improve sleep and quality of life in obese women with type 2 diabetes.²⁸

The wide-ranging benefits provided by these evidence-backed nutrients is why Roquette is investing in research into its Nutralys plant protein and Nutriose soluble fibre products. Through ongoing clinical and preclinical studies, Roquette aims to better understand how these plant-based ingredients can support good health for every member of society, at all stages of life.

This work forms part of a broader effort to address the challenges of ageing through science-backed dietary solutions that promote long-term health and resilience. As the Asia region is experiencing accelerated ageing trends, such innovations in food and nutrition may play a key role in enabling individuals to remain active, independent and engaged well into later life.

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References

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