Enhancing health outcomes in institutionalized older adults: the critical role of combined exercise and nutritional interventions

Significant progress in health sciences has led to increased life expectancy, yet the potential to decelerate, halt, or reverse the aging process remains uncertain. This remarkable achievement has enabled many individuals to reach advanced ages in good health and with independence, enhancing their quality of life and time spent with family and friends. However, extending lifespan alone does not ensure independent aging or improved quality of life. Despite the additional years gained in recent decades, many adults do not engage in the recommended levels of physical activity. Consequently, these additional years are often marked by increased disability. Inactive aging leads to an unhealthy phenotype among the older population, characterized by diminished physical work capacity and a greater risk of non-communicable diseases. As individuals age, physical inactivity increases their risk of falls, fractures, ospitalizations, frailty, and institutionalization. In particular, the very elderly in institutional settings exhibit reduced functional and cognitive capacities, placing them at higher risk of frailty and disability. Older adults with low functional capacity, especially those institutionalized, are associated with increased public health expenditures compared to their healthier, noninstitutionalized counterparts [3]. Therefore, it is crucial to develop strategies to combat physical frailty in this vulnerable population. Among these, physical exercise interventions, especially those integrating exercise with nutritional support, have shown exceptional costeffectiveness in addressing frailty in institutionalized older adults.