Nutrition as an anti-aging strategy

Research areas

The aging population represents one of the greatest challenges for society, largely due to the increase of age-associated diseases. Chronic systemic inflammation and visceral adipose tissue play crucial roles in the development of cardio-metabolic disorders such as abdominal obesity, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and hyperglycemia.Eating habits are a fundamental part of every lifestyle, having an immediate impact on metabolism—and stimulating, when incorrect or excessive, metabolic inflammation. Adhering to healthy dietary patterns such as the Mediterranean diet can reduce the risk of age-associated metabolic diseases.

Research projects

• Study of the impact of nutrition on aging, frailty, and cognitive response;
• Study of the effect of nutrition on inflammation and intestinal microbiota;
• Study of the correlation between nutrition and body composition in the elderly.

Aims of the research updated

The effect of diet is influenced by a number of variables such as genetics, geography/ethnicity, and sex/gender. Today, the belief that interventions (pharmacological and non-pharmacological) and medical treatments can be adapted to an individual’s biochemical, physiological, behavioral, and environmental exposure profile is of great interest in the field known as personalized preventive medicine.

In the future we hope to address the following points:

• The heterogeneity of the response to treatment with the Mediterranean diet
• The long-term effects of the Mediterranean diet on the health of the elderly
• The study of biomarkers of aging/longevity in response to nutrition.

Active grants

• European Project- JPI-HDHL INTIMIC METADIS; Project title: EURODIET- Dietary Patterns in the Ageing European Population: an Interdisciplinary Approach to combat Overweight-Related Metabolic Diseases (2020-2023: Project ID 1164)

Collaborators

Dott.ssa Morena Martucci, membro del Team;

Dr. Chiara La Morgia, IRCCS Istituto delle Scienze Neurologiche-Ospedale Bellaria, Bologna

Prof. Marco Candela, Dr. Silvia Turroni, Dr. Elena Biagi, Dr. Simone Rampelli, Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology, University of Bologna

Prof. Patrizia Brigidi, Department of Medical Science and Surgery -DIMEC, University of Bologna

Prof. Daniela Monti, Department of Experimental and Clinical Biomedical Sciences “Mario Serio”, Università di Firenze

Prof. Fawzi Kadi, University of Orebro, Sweden

Prof. Paul O’Toole, Department of Microbiology, University College of Cork, Ireland

Dr. Blandine Comte, Dept of Metabolism and mass spectrometry, Université Clermont Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand, France

Prof. Barbara Pietruszka, Faculty of human Nutrition, University of Warsaw, Poland

Prof. Susan Fairweather-Tait, Medical School, University East Anglia, Norwich, UK

Prof. Lisette de Groot, Dept, of Human Nutrition and Health, University of Wageningen, the Netherland

Dr. Alberto Del Rio, Innovamol srl