Gerontology seminars

This presentation will include a brief resume of research in older populations led from Cambridge that have informed current clinical understanding and policy regarding services and prevention for and of dementia. These population studies have more recently been ‘re-purposed’ with enthusiasm from participants into a trial platform, and this also has enabled ongoing follow-up by telephone during the COVID pandemic. Although there are no formal outputs from these latter developments general impressions will be shared.

Reducing protein intake (and that of key amino acids) extends lifespan, especially during mid-life and early late-life. Yet, due to a powerful protein appetite, reducing protein in the diet leads to increased food intake, promoting obesity – which shortens lifespan. That is the protein paradox. In the talk I will bring together pieces of the jigsaw, including: specific nutrient appetites, protein leverage, macronutrient interactions on appetite and ageing, the role of branched-chain amino acids and FGF-21, and then I will conclude by showing how these pieces fit together and play out in the modern industrialised food environment to result in the global pandemic of obesity and metabolic disease.