The proportion of the elderly population in the world is increasing every year. As accepted by the World Health Organization (WHO), early old age between the ages of 65-75, middle age between the ages of 75-85, and advanced old age after 85 years (1). According to the United Nations world population estimates, the world population for 2022 is estimated to be 7 billion 975 million 105 thousand 156 people, while the elderly population is 782 million 998 thousand 642 people. According to these estimates, 9.8% of the world's population was composed of the elderly population. The top three countries with the highest proportion of elderly population were Japan with 29.9%, Italy with 24.1% and Finland with 23.3%. Turkey ranked 66th among 184 countries. While the rate of population aged 65 and over was 9.9% in 2022, it is expected to increase to 11.0% in 2025 (2). Aging is chronological, biological, characteristic, psychological, socio-cultural, economic and social classified by different sizes.
Today, parallel to the increase in the elderly population, increasing diseases related to aging have become a serious public health problem. Improving the life expectancy and quality of life of the aging population is the main aim of current studies (3).
With the increase in preventive health services in recent years, the average life expectancy in the elderly and the prevalence of neurodegenerative diseases have increased accordingly. Neurodegenerative diseases are incurable and debilitating conditions that result in progressive degeneration and/or death of nerve cells. Dementias are the most common of the neurodegenerative diseases and represent approximately 60-70% of Alzheimer's dementia cases (4). The worldwide prevalence of dementia is around 50 million. According to the 2015 World Alzheimer's Report, the odds of developing some form of dementia in an older adult rises from 2-4% at age 65 to 15% at age 80. As the population ages, current estimates predict more than 130 million cases by 2050 (5). According to Turkey's death and cause of death statistics, the number of elderly people who lost their lives due to Alzheimer's disease increased from 13 thousand 642 in 2017 to 12 thousand 239 in 2021 (2).
With advancing age, many physiological changes occur in the organism and the risk of non-communicable diseases such as heart and respiratory diseases, cancer and diabetes increases. Due to inflammation, metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular diseases are frequently seen in the elderly (6). Chronic diseases, which have been reported as a serious health problem in the 21st century by the United Nations and the World Health Organization, are considered among the important causes of death all over the world. It is estimated by the World Health Organization that 75% of deaths in 2020 will be caused by chronic diseases (1). It has been reported by the Turkish Statistical Institute (2021) that 37.6% of individuals aged 65 and over died due to circulatory system diseases, 15.0% due to respiratory system diseases and 12.0% due to benign or malignant tumors (2).
Improving the life expectancy and quality of life of the aging population is the main objective of current studies. In recent years, human gut microbiota-targeted aging management has been considered as a new approach to health and prevention of aging (7).
Nutrition is the most important factor in providing adequate cognitive and physical functions and minimizing the risks of chronic diseases in elderly individuals. Functional foods have an important place in a healthy and balanced diet and contribute to reducing the risks of diet-related diseases (8). Some of these functional foods are pomegranate, strawberry and hazelnut. Urolithin A, a natural compound, is produced in the intestines from polyphenols such as ellagitannins and ellagic acid found in these foods. Urolithin A is the metabolite compound produced from the conversion of ellagitannins by intestinal bacteria. Urolithin A (UroA) has positive effects on aging and age-related diseases by reducing inflammation, improving mitochondrial function and activating mitophagy (9). Urolithins are produced from foods containing ellagic acid that undergo intestinal microbial transformation, and their concentrations vary between individuals (10).
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Primary Language | Turkish |
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Subjects | Public Health Nutrition |
Journal Section | Reviews |
Authors | |
Project Number | yok |
Publication Date | January 3, 2024 |
Submission Date | August 28, 2023 |
Published in Issue | Year 2023 Volume: 2 Issue: 2 |