The Effectiveness of a Diet With Beef as Key Protein Component Versus a Plant-Based Diet to Support Integrated Muscle Protein Synthesis Rates in Healthy Older Individuals

NCT ID: NCT07049224

Last Updated: 2025-07-03

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: RECRUITING
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 32 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2024-12-09
• Study Completion Date: 2026-04-30

Brief Summary

Muscles are composed out of proteins. These proteins in turn are composed out of smaller building blocks, called amino acids. By consuming a sufficient amount of dietary protein, a sufficient amount of amino acids become available to build new muscle proteins. The body's ability to build these new muscle proteins is of great importance to maintain muscle strength and function.

Previous research suggests that a meal containing proteins from meat results in a better stimulation of the body's ability to build muscle proteins, when compared to a meal containing only plant-based proteins. However, these previous studies have only been performed following the ingestion of a single meal. As a result it is currently unknown how the muscles respond to a more prolonged ingestion of a diet containing animal/meat products, in comparison to a plant-based diet. Therefore, this study aims to investigate how fast new muscle proteins are being build when consuming a diet containing animal/meat products, in comparison to a plant-based (vegan) diet.

Conditions

Muscle Protein Synthetic Response to Protein

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: CROSSOVER
• Primary Study Purpose: BASIC_SCIENCE
• Blinding Strategy: SINGLE

Study Groups

MEAT-PLANT

Participants will be subjected to a 10-day diet containing meat and animal products, followed by a 10-day diet containing plant products. During the interventional period participants will perform unilateral lower limb resistance exercise.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Meat diet

Intervention Type: OTHER

Participants will be subjected to a 10-day diet containing meat and animal products. During the interventional period participants will perform unilateral lower limb resistance exercise.

Plant diet

Intervention Type: OTHER

Participants will be subjected to a 10-day diet containing plant products. During the interventional period participants will perform unilateral lower limb resistance exercise.

PLANT-MEAT

Participants will be subjected to a 10-day diet containing plant products, followed by a 10-day diet containing meat and animal products. During the interventional period participants will perform unilateral lower limb resistance exercise.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Meat diet

Intervention Type: OTHER

Participants will be subjected to a 10-day diet containing meat and animal products. During the interventional period participants will perform unilateral lower limb resistance exercise.

Plant diet

Intervention Type: OTHER

Participants will be subjected to a 10-day diet containing plant products. During the interventional period participants will perform unilateral lower limb resistance exercise.

Interventions

Meat diet

Participants will be subjected to a 10-day diet containing meat and animal products. During the interventional period participants will perform unilateral lower limb resistance exercise.

Intervention Type: OTHER

Plant diet

Participants will be subjected to a 10-day diet containing plant products. During the interventional period participants will perform unilateral lower limb resistance exercise.

Intervention Type: OTHER

Other Intervention Names

Omnivorous diet; Vegan diet

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Male or female sex
• Aged between 65 and 85 y inclusive
• BMI between 18.5 and 30 kg/m2 inclusive

Exclusion Criteria

• Not willing to consume meat/animal-based products during the study period
• Any food allergies (e.g. milk, gluten, etc.)
• Participating currently or in the 3 months prior to the study in a structured progressive exercise program.
• Smoking
• History of cardiovascular, respiratory, gastrointestinal, urogenital, neurological, psychiatric, dermatologic, musculoskeletal, metabolic, endocrine, haematological, immunologic disorders, allergy, major surgery and/or laboratory assessments which might limit participation in or completion of the study protocol, interfere with the execution of the experiment, or potential influence the study outcomes (to be decided by the study team and responsible physician)
• Diagnosed with phenylketonuria (PKU)
• Donated full blood 3 months prior to test day
• Use of any medications that interferes with study participation and/or outcomes (i.e. corticosteroids, non-steroidal anti-inflammatories, gastric acid suppressing medication) as assessed by the study team and responsible medical doctor.
• Use of DOAC, vitamin-K-antagonist, or multiple anticoagulants
• Fasting blood glucose >7 mmol/L

• Minimum Eligible Age: 65 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 85 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

National Cattlemen's Beef Association

INDUSTRY

Sponsor Role: collaborator

Maastricht University Medical Center

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR

Locations

Maastricht University Medical Centre+

Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands

Site Status: RECRUITING

Countries

Netherlands

Central Contacts

Philippe Pinckaers, PhD

Role: CONTACT

philippe.pinckaers@maastrichtuniversity.nl

+31 43 388 22 15

Facility Contacts

Philippe Pinckaers, PhD

Role: primary

philippe.pinckaers@maastrichtuniversity.nl

+31 43 388 22 15

Other Identifiers

NL87069.068.24

Identifier Type: OTHER

Identifier Source: secondary_id

METC 24-025

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id