Four-week administration of an energy and protein dense oral nutritional supplement improves micronutrient concentrations but does not completely correct deficiencies in institutionalized malnourished older adults.

Poor food intake is common among elderly living in nursing homes, leading to micronutrient deficiency (MD). There are no recommendations for the management of MD in malnourished older adults. We conducted a single arm, open-label, multicenter interventional study in institutionalized malnourished older adults to describe the effect of a 4-week daily energy and protein dense oral nutritional supplementation (ONS, 600 kcal, 30 g protein per unit) containing 50% of the recommended daily micronutrient intake on micronutrient status. Plasma concentrations of vitamins (A, B9, B12, C, E), magnesium (Mg), selenium (Se) and zinc (Zn), and erythrocyte vitamin B9 were measured at baseline and after 4 weeks. Forty-six participants completed the study (age 87.4 ± 6.6). At baseline, the most frequent MD were Se (48%), Zn (35%), Mg (24%) and vitamin C (24%). Plasma concentrations of vitamins B9, B12, C and E, Mg, Se and Zn significantly increased and the proportion of subjects with at least one MD decreased ( ONS consumption improved micronutrient status but did not correct MD in all participants. Our data suggest that the prescription of vitamin, mineral and trace element supplementation should be considered in institutionalized malnourished older adults in addition to high energy and high protein ONS.

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Copyright © 2023 Sanchez, Courtois-Amiot, Capdepon, Neveux, Gautry, Dorigny, Brossault, Bouillanne, Aussel, Raynaud-Simon and Cynober.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

LC is a shareholder of the Citrage Company and a member of its Scientific Committee. He received personal fees from Nestlé Health Science for participation in this clinical study. URP 4466 received an unrestricted grant from Nestlé Health Science to perform studies and biological measurements. AR-S declares receiving personal fees from Nestlé Health Science for participation in clinical studies, training courses and congress conferences. OB declares receiving personal fees from Nestlé Health Science for participation in clinical studies. JG was an employee of Nestlé Health Science when conducting the clinical study and an employee of SANOFI when writing this article. LB was employed by Soladis Group. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.