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

Brief description of study

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.


Clinical Study Identifier: s23-00293
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT05963113
Principal Investigator: Sonja M. Molfenter.
Other Investigators: Mari Hagiwara, Efstratios Achlatis, Abraham R Khan, Stamatela Balou, Kathleen Woolf, Aaron M. Johnson, Milan R Amin.


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