[Public Voices] Aging Healthily with Fermented Dairy Products

Supplementing Calcium and Protein Intake
A Win-Win for Gut Health
Potential for Alzheimer’s Prevention

Recently, there has been growing interest in "frailty," a complex phenomenon involving musculoskeletal and cognitive aspects. Frailty occurs in about 10% of the population aged 65 and older, which is the standard for old age. It is characterized by a loss of resilience related to health risk factors including fractures, hospitalization, disability, and death.

The causes of this condition are not well understood, but there are ways to delay its onset. Among them, nutrition is related to frailty and can be a promising treatment method. However, nutrients do not show rapid effects like typical medicines; since it takes a long time to correct imbalances caused by long-term eating habits, it is important to consume a balanced diet regularly to avoid nutrient deficiencies.

According to medical information from the National Health Information Portal, 82.3% of elderly people have insufficient calcium intake. The proportion of elderly with protein deficiency is also reported to be 40.4%. Ninety-nine percent of the body's calcium is a component of bones and teeth, and it also plays a role in maintaining normal muscle and nerve functions. The recommended daily calcium intake for adults is 700 mg, and since there is no evidence of increased loss, the same amount is recommended for the elderly. Milk and dairy products are not only high in calcium content but also have high bioavailability, making them the best source of calcium. For example, 100g of milk contains 113 mg of calcium.

Additionally, recent domestic research shows that elderly people whose protein intake is below the recommended amount have more than twice the risk of developing sarcopenia compared to those who consume at least 50% more than the recommended amount. Sarcopenia increases the risk of falls and fractures, lowering the quality of life for the elderly and causing difficulties in daily living. Nutritionally, the most reliable prevention for sarcopenia is sufficient intake of high-quality protein. Regarding protein quality, in 1993, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the World Health Organization (WHO) adopted the "Protein Digestibility-Corrected Amino Acid Score (PDCAAS)" as the "desirable best method" to determine protein quality. This method evaluates protein quality based on both human amino acid requirements and digestibility. The main proteins in milk, casein and whey protein, have a PDCAAS of 100, while rice scores 50, wheat flour 42, and vegetables 73, demonstrating that dairy products are not only rich in protein but also of high quality.

Furthermore, dementia, which is the most feared disease in old age, cannot be overlooked. Since there is a lack of fundamental treatments for dementia, preventive approaches such as diet, exercise, and active learning are being explored. Recently, the National Institute of Animal Science developed a technology to select antioxidant probiotics from milk produced on farms and use them in fermented milk and cheese production. When these dairy products were administered to Alzheimer’s disease model animals, they confirmed an effect of suppressing the accumulation of beta-amyloid plaques in the brain, which are the cause of Alzheimer’s. Alzheimer’s is the most common form of dementia, accounting for 60-80% of dementia cases, and this newly developed probiotic technology is expected to be used for the prevention of Alzheimer’s, whose onset timing is unknown.

Aging is inevitable, but to maintain health without frailty, it is important to continuously maintain balanced nutrition. In particular, to supplement calcium and protein intake, which tend to be insufficient in the nutrition of elderly people in Korea, daily consumption of dairy products is recommended. Consuming fermented dairy products rich in probiotic bacteria, which are functional health food ingredients, can also help maintain gut health, making it a win-win situation.

Lim Gi-sun, Director of the National Institute of Animal Science, Rural Development Administration

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.