Strategies for Improving the Quality of Life of Pre-senior and Senior Populations Based on Precision Nutrition (Proyecto Nutriprecisión)

The number and proportion of people aged 60 years old and over is increasing worldwide. Ageing is characterized by a progressive loss of physiological integrity, leading to impaired function and increased vulnerability to death. This deterioration is the primary risk factor for major chronic diseases including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and neurodegenerative disorders. The incidence of chronic conditions frequently rises sharply with age, after long exposure to unhealthful lifestyles involving the consumption of unhealthy diets and physical inactivity. Consequently, integrated dietary strategies and actions are required to promote healthy ageing and target major causes of morbidity and mortality in senior populations. The promising field of precision nutrition is rising as a therapeutic approach that aims to design tailored dietary interventions to prevent and manage chronic diseases. Indeed, precision nutrition approaches contemplate the interindividual heterogeneity caused by genetic/epigenetic dissimilarities, individual facets such as age and gender, the lifestyle and environmental exposome diversity, microbiome variations, and singular behavioral/psychological features. On the other hand, the inclusion of potentially bioactive compounds and functional foods as promoters of healthy aging within personalised dietary patterns could be an effective strategy to delay the aging process and age-related chronic diseases. One of the main limitations of a dietary prescription is the lack of compliance, due to the complexity of the prescription itself and/or the lack of commitment of the individual. The inclusion of digital tools to empower and motivate individuals and to support them in the management of the dietary strategy could overcome this limitation. With this background, the general objective of this investigation is to design precision nutritional strategies based on the inclusion of functional foods and digital tools for preventing age-related chronic diseases in pre-senior and senior populations. Additionally, this study proposes alternative tools for cognitive assessments increasing the accessibility to cognitive assessment tools for this population as well as an innovative digital tool for cognitive stimulation which is personalized, monitored, and evidence-based.