A Single-center Randomized Clinical Trial to Test the Efficacy of Pharyngeal Swallowing Exercises (With or Without Protein Supplementation) to Build Pharyngeal Muscular Reserve in Pre-frail Older Adults

Summary

The swallowing muscles are prone to decreased strength and function as part of the natural aging process which can lead to difficulty swallowing, malnutrition, and frailty. Exercise and nutrition are powerful stimulators of muscular change. The proposed research will investigate the effectiveness of a 12-week proactive regimen of swallowing exercises (with or without daily protein supplement drinks) to improve the composition, force, and physiology of the swallowing muscles and explore the relationship to overall health and physical function in 80 community-dwelling older adults. Each participant will serve as their own control for 12 weeks before being randomized to complete swallowing exercises alone or swallowing exercises with protein drinks.

Eligibility

Age range

65+ years

Sex

All

Healthy volunteers

Yes

Interventions

• Behavioral
  Pharyngeal Swallowing Exercises

  12-weeks of proactive pharyngeal swallowing exercises conducted 5 times per week. The exercise program will include the following four exercises: effortful saliva swallows, tongue-hold swallows, effortful pitch glides and posterior lingual resistance. Each exercise set will include 10 repetitions of each exercise (40 reps per set). The number of sets will be gradually increased as tolerance builds.

• Dietary Supplement
  Protein Supplementation

  12-week supply of the commercially-available Premier Protein Clear ® High Protein (20 grams of protein and 90 calories per 16.9 oz. drink). Participants will be asked to consume one drink per day for the 12-week intervention period.

• Device
  MRI

  Participants will be scanned using a 3T MRI scanner and a 16-channel phased array neck coil.

Locations (2)