Protein-Distinct Macronutrient-Equivalent Diet 2

The central hypothesis is that the addition of minimally processed lean pork to a healthy plant-forward low ultra-processed diet will enhance nutrient adequacy, promote muscular fitness, and maintain metabolic functions for improved healthspan. A well-designed, randomized, controlled, crossover, feeding study with clinical and molecular mechanistic endpoints is proposed to provide the most definitive level of evidence logistically possible in humans and to establish the role of minimally processed lean pork in healthspan promotion. Utilizing an all-food-provided (dine-in and take-out) design over 18 weeks (rolling recruitment, 8+8, 2w washout), a comprehensive assessment of metabolomics, system biology, physical, and physiological markers that indicate the risk of age-related comorbidities-critical micronutrient deficiency, frailty, metabolic dysfunctions, and cognitive decline, is proposed in upper Midwesterners 65 years and older. A minimally processed plant-forward diet with or without added pork will be compared for over 250 outcome measures using mixed-effects modeling adjusting for covariates in R. n=15/diet/arm i.e., a total starting sample size of n=30 is proposed for 90% power.