Nutritional Composition for Sarcopenia Therapy via High Caloric Density
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Solution Overview
Problem
Sarcopenia and frailty in elderly patients lead to muscle mass and strength loss, resulting in impaired physical function, increased risk of disability, and mortality, with existing nutritional compositions often being unsuitable due to high volume requirements that are not tolerated by affected individuals.
Innovation Solution
A nutritional composition combining PUFA, vitamin E, vitamin D, and protein-bound amino acids like glycine, arginine, and tryptophan, providing 40-50% energy from lipids, 4.0-8.0 mg/100 mL alpha-TE vitamin E, 5.0-12.0 μg/100 mL vitamin D, 2.5-4.5 g/100 mL glycine, 0.5-1.5 g/100 mL arginine, and at least 0.02 g/100 mL tryptophan, designed to be nutritionally complete and administered in a low volume to ensure sufficient calorie and protein intake.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If high volume nutritional compositions are administered to provide sufficient calories and protein, then nutritional requirements are met, but patient tolerance deteriorates due to gastrointestinal discomfort
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the physical and chemical parameters of the nutritional composition by incorporating specific phospholipid structures and fatty acid compositions that reduce surface tension and improve fluidity, allowing high caloric density to be delivered in a lower volume that is easier to tolerate gastrointestinally
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses composite lipid structures combining phospholipids with specific fatty acids (omega-3, omega-6, omega-9) in defined ratios, creating a synergistic composition that provides high caloric density while improving gastrointestinal tolerance through enhanced emulsification and absorption characteristics
2Ease of operation
If nutritional composition volume is reduced to improve patient tolerance, then gastrointestinal comfort improves, but calorie and protein intake becomes insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent increases the energy density parameter of the composition by optimizing the lipid-to-protein ratio and selecting high-calorie-density fatty acids, enabling sufficient caloric intake in a reduced volume that maintains patient tolerance
Solution Approach 2:
The patent concentrates specific nutrients (phospholipids, omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin E) in targeted amounts within the reduced volume, creating localized nutrient density that maximizes nutritional benefit per unit volume while maintaining acceptability
3Adaptability or versatility
If standard amino acid profiles are used in nutritional compositions, then general nutritional needs are met, but muscle protein synthesis in sarcopenic patients is insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent modifies the amino acid profile to provide locally optimized concentrations of specific amino acids (leucine, isoleucine, valine, arginine, glycine, tryptophan) that are critical for muscle protein synthesis, while maintaining overall nutritional balance for general health
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the amino acid composition parameters by increasing the proportion of essential amino acids and specific conditionally essential amino acids known to stimulate muscle protein synthesis, creating a profile specifically adapted for sarcopenic patients while maintaining general nutritional adequacy
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to PUFA, vitamin E, vitamin D and the protein bound amino acids glycine, arginine and tryptophan as active ingredients for use in therapy of patients with sarcopenia and/or frailty or pre-sarcopenic and/or pre-frail patients, wherein an effective amount of said active ingredients is administered in the form of a nutritional composition comprising a) a lipid component providing 40-50 EN % based on the total energy of the nutritional composition, wherein 12-16 EN % based on the total energy of the nutritional composition is provided by PUFA, b) 4.0-8.0 mg/100 mL alpha-TE vitamin E, c) 5.0-12.0 μg/100 mL vitamin D, d) 2.5-4.5 g/100 mL glycine, e) 0.5-1.5 g/100 mL arginine, and f) at least 0.02 g/100 mL tryptophan.