Title:Development and Evaluation of a Low-cost Dairy Food Supplement with Mauritia Flexuosa (Buriti) to Combat Malnutrition: Translational Study in Mice and Institutionalized Elderly Woman
Volume: 15
Issue: 1
Author(s): Audrey Handyara Bicalho, Fabio Ribeiro Santos, Daniele Cristina Moreira, Victor Hugo Dantas Guimarães, Guilherme Henrique Ribeiro, Alfredo Mauricio Batista De Paula, André Luis Sena Guimarães, Ulisses A. Pereira, Theles Costa, Caroline Liboreiro Paiva, Marcelo Perim Baldo and Sérgio Henrique Sousa Santos*
Affiliation:
- Laboratory of Health Science, Postgraduate Program in Health Sciences, Universidade Estadual de Montes Claros
(Unimontes), Minas Gerais, Brazil
- Institute of Agricultural Sciences (ICA), Food Engineering, Universidade Federal
de Minas Gerais (UFMG), Montes Claros, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Keywords:
Aging, malnutrition, oral nutritional supplement, Mauritia flexuosa L. f, Buriti, Cerrado, Savanna.
Abstract: Aims: The present study aimed to develop and evaluate a new dairy by-product nutritional
supplement with Buriti fruit to improve malnutrition in mice and elderly woman.
Background: Malnutrition is a prevalent problem in the elderly; therefore, oral dietary supplementation
is an important strategy to reduce this health problem incidence.
Objective: The present study evaluated the effects of a low-cost food supplement, made from byproducts
of the dairy and fruit industry in the Brazilian Cerrado (Buriti), on the nutritional status
and on the recovery of the metabolic profile of malnourished animals and elderly women.
Methods: In the pre-clinical phase, Swiss mice were divided into six groups and subjected to malnutrition
and renutrition. The clinical phase was carried out with 25 elderly women residing in a
long-term institution, aged ≥ 65 years and with malnutrition or risk of malnutrition.
Results: The main results showed improvements in anthropometric parameters and an increase in
serum albumin levels, in addition to lipid profile improvement in the preclinical phase and an increase
in the red blood cells and hemoglobin in the clinical phase.
Conclusion: The supplement based on Buriti was able to reverse malnutrition promoting improvements
in anthropometric and biochemical parameters.