NCT05809466

The Effect of a 12-week Self-composed Vegan Diet With or Without Concurrent Resistance Exercise on Thigh Muscle Volume in Older Adults

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 72 (actual)
• Sponsor: Wageningen University · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 65 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

Consumers are increasingly encouraged to consume more plant-based foods and lower their consumption of foods from animal origin. This shift is driven by environmental and health factors. However, the consequences of such a transition on muscle mass still remains to be explored. This is of particular importance in the older population, where the age-related reduction in muscle mass and strength is highly prevalent. Adequate dietary intake, specifically protein intake, is a well-known strategy in promoting muscle mass in older adults. Plant-based foods are currently considered to be inferior to animal-based foods in their protein quality, and are therefore considered to be suboptimal for the maintenance of muscle mass at an older age. On the other hand, combining plant-based foods may improve the protein quality and thereby the anabolic properties of a vegan meal. Evidence regarding the anabolic properties of vegan diets in older adults is scarce. As such, the current study aims to assess 1) the effects of a 12-week self-composed vegan diet in comparison to an omnivorous diet on thigh muscle volume (TMV) in community-dwelling older adults and 2) the effect of a 12-week self-composed vegan diet combined with twice-weekly resistance exercise (RE) on TMV in comparison to a self-composed vegan diet without resistance exercise in community-dwelling older adults.

Conditions

• Vegan Diet
• Sarcopenia
• Cardiovascular Health
• Osteoporosis
• Gut Health

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	Vegan diet	A self-composed 12 week fully plant-based diet
OTHER	Resistance exercise	Biweekly resistance exercise for 12 weeks
OTHER	Omnivorous diet	Habitual diet containing both animal- and plant-based food products

Timeline

• Start date: 2023-04-04
• Primary completion: 2024-09-26
• Completion: 2024-09-26
• First posted: 2023-04-12
• Last updated: 2025-04-01

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Netherlands