Medium-chain triglycerides (8:0 and 10:0) are promising nutrients for sarcopenia: a randomized controlled trial.
What this study found
MCT supplementation improved muscle strength, swallowing-related function, and functional independence in frail elderly participants, with benefits most evident after 3 months and diminishing after washout. At 3 months, leg open and close test performance increased by 2.70 n/10 s in LD+MCT and 2.28 n/10 s in MCT versus a decrease of −0.59 n/10 s with LCT, and FIM total score increased by 6.9 and 5.6 points versus a decrease of −6.6 points with LCT; all were P < 0.05. RSST also improved in the active arms, increasing by 0.8 n/30 s with LD+MCT and 0.5 n/30 s with MCT versus a decrease of −0.5…
- Study & population
- This was a three-arm randomized controlled trial in frail elderly Japanese residents of a nursing home/day-care facility in Yokohama.
- Intervention
- In the MCT arm, participants received 6 g/day medium-chain triglycerides mixed with foods at dinnertime.
- Key limitation
- The active arms were small, with only 21 participants each, which limits precision.
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Open PDFOriginal abstract
BACKGROUND The combined supplementation of medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs), l-leucine-rich amino acids, and cholecalciferol was previously shown to increase muscle strength and function in frail elderly individuals. OBJECTIVE We examined whether treatment with MCTs alone is sufficient to increase muscle strength and function and activities of daily living (ADL) in such individuals. METHODS We enrolled 64 elderly nursing home residents (85.5 ± 6.8 y) in a 3-mo randomized, controlled, single-blinded intervention trial. The participants were randomly assigned to 3 groups: the first group received supplemental l-leucine (1.2 g) and cholecalciferol (20 μg) enriched with 6 g/d of MCTs (LD + MCT group) as a positive control, the second group received 6 g/d of MCTs (MCT group) as a target, and the third group received 6 g/d of long-chain triglycerides (LCT group) as a negative control. Changes in muscle mass, strength, function, and ADL were monitored 4 times: at baseline, at 1.5 and 3 mo after initiation of the intervention (intervention), and 1.5 mo after termination of the intervention (washout). RESULTS The 64 participants randomly assigned to the 3 groups were included in an intention-to-treat analysis. Forty-eight participants completed the study and were included in a per-protocol analysis. At 3 mo, participants in the MCT group had a 48.1% increase in 10-s leg open and close test performance [intention-to-treat adjusted means: MCT 2.28 n/10 s (1.37, 3.19) compared with LCT -0.59 n/10 s (-1.52, 0.35), P < 0.05], a 27.8% increase in a 30-s repetitive saliva swallowing test [MCT 0.5 n/30 s (0.1, 1.0) compared with LCT -0.5 n/30 s (-0.9, 0.0), P < 0.05], and a 7.5% increase in Functional Independence Measure score, a questionnaire for assessing ADL [MCT 5.6 points (1.3, 9.9) compared with LCT -6.6 points (-11.3, -2.0), P < 0.05]. CONCLUSION MCTs (6 g/d) could increase the muscle strength and function of frail elderly individuals and also improve their ADL. This trial was registered at the University Hospital Medical Information Network Clinical Trial Registry as UMIN000023302.