Interreg V-A Cross-border Cooperation Program of the Slovak Republic - Austria logo NutriAging Project Logo

NutriAging

Welcome to the official site of the NutriAging project, realized under the Interreg V-A Cross-border Cooperation Program of the Slovak Republic - Austria, Priority Axis 1: Contributing to the Intelligent Cross-Border Region

The Interreg Program supports the cooperation of major research institutes from Slovakia (Bratislava) and Austria (Vienna), the task of which is the mutual exchange of experience and knowledge and their subsequent dissemination to the general public.

About the project

The constant increase in life expectancy in Central Europe, accompanied with age-related diseases, presents a socio-economic challenge that will become a considerable financial burden for the health service in the future.

Particularly a cross-border region between Vienna and Bratislava is characterized by the highest incidence of diseases such as diabetes, dementia, cancer or cardiovascular diseases. The average life expectancy in Slovakia is 73.2 years (males) / 80 years (females) (SO SR, 2014) and in Austria 78.0 years (males) / 83.3 years (females) (Statistik Austria, 2015). The inhabitants of Slovakia are leaders in the shortest ''healthy lifestyle'' in the EU. The causes are different, but we can see the lack of investment in health care, inappropriate eating habits and inappropriate lifestyle.

A healthy lifestyle, including diet and physical activity, contributes to a significant reduction of chronic diseases and to an increase in quality of life, including the mental health. In particular, some nutrients (vitamin D, proteins, omega-3 fatty acids) have been found reduced in the diet of seniors. In addition, an appropriate diet in geriatric care and institutions for the elderly is often neglected and does not receive sufficient attention, although its importance is scientifically based.

Therefore, it is necessary to raise the awareness about the healthy nutrition and diet of seniors, future seniors, as well as all the people who support seniors in their life situation

Project Aims

  • to improve the quality of life by raising awareness of healthy nutrition need, which will contribute to the prevention of ''unhealthy'' aging,
  • to reduce the incidence of age-related diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes mellitus and mental disorders (depressive disorder, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's) in the cross-border region, and reduce the cost of healthcare associated with aging - improving nutrition and health awareness of older people of today and tomorrow, as well as of health care professionals and nurses in the cross-border area of AT-SK,
  • in the research section to monitor the impact of selected nutrients (vitamin D, omega-3 fatty acids and proteins) on the health of the elderly,
  • to identify markers of ''healthy'' physical and mental aging,
  • to train the elderly of today and tomorrow as well as health care professionals and nursing staff about the role of nutrition in healthy aging.

Project partners

Project Leader
University of Vienna Logo
University of Vienna

Department of Nutritional Sciences
Research Platform Active Ageing
Centre of Sport Science and University Sports

Project Cross-border Leader
Comenius University in Bratislava Logo
Comenius University in Bratislava

Faculty of Medicine
Institute of Medical Chemistry, Biochemistry and Clinical Biochemistry

Strategic partners - Austria
  • Federal Ministry of Health and Women

    Representative: Priv.Doz. Dr. Pamela Rendi-Wagner

  • Association of Hospitals in Vienna

    Representative: Dr. Eva – Maria Strasser

  • The Vienna Health Support

    Representative: Mag. Christian Fessl, Dennis Beck

  • Kuratorium Wiener Pensionistenwohnhäuser

    Representative: Mag. Jennifer Obermayr

  • Wien - Magistratsabteilung 13 - Bildung und außerschulische Jugendbetreuung

    Representative: Mag. Brigitte Bauer-Sebek

  • Österreichische Gesellschaft für Ernährung

    Representative: Mag. Alexandra Hofer

Strategic partners - Slovakia
  • Association of Providers of Social Services of the Slovak Republic

    Čachtická 17, 831 06 Bratislava – Rača, Slovak Republic, http://www.apssvsr.sk/
    Representative: Ing. Milada Dobrotková, MPH, predsedníčka

  • The Unity of Pensioners of Slovakia

    Krajská organizácia JDS Trnava, Hlavná 7, 917 01 Trnava, Slovak Republic
    Representative: Margita Fabiánová, predsedníčka KO JDS Trnava (pre región trnavského kraja)

  • Bagar Civic Association

    Azalková 4, 821 01 Bratislava, Slovak Republic
    Representative: PhDr. Miloš Nemeček, prezident OZ Bagar

  • Slovak Gerontological and Geriatric Society

    Geriatric Clinic, Faculty of Medicine, Comenius University and FH, Limbová 5, 83301 Bratislava – Nové mesto, Slovak Republic, https://www.geriatri.sk/
    Representatives: Doc. MUDr. Martin Dúbrava, CSc – Head of the Clinic
    Prof. MUDR. Silvester Krčméry, CSc.– President of Society

  • Comenius University, Faculty of Physical Education and Sports

    Nábrežie arm, gen. L. Svobodu 9, Bratislava, Slovak Republic
    Representatives: doc. Mgr. Marián Vanderka, PhD. - dean
    Mgr. Ján Cvečka, PhD. – Head of the Diagnostic Center of prof. Hamara

Investigators - Austria
Photography of wagner
Univ. Prof. Dr. Karl-Heinz Wagner

Project Leader NutriAging

Photography of wessner
Assoc. Prof. DI Dr. Barbara Wessner

Project Manager

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Dr. Bernhard Franzke

Project Manager

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Patrick A. Zöhrer, MSc.

Prae Doc

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Sandra Unterberger, MSc.

Prae Doc

Photography of draxler
Agnes Draxler, MSc

Prae Doc

Investigators - Slovakia
Photography of muchova
Doc. RNDr. Jana Muchová, PhD.

Cross-border Project Leader main project manager – guarantor of experimental part of project

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Doc. Ing. Ingrid Žitňanová, PhD.

Deputy Responsible Investigator – guarantor of model experiments

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Prof. Ing. Zdeňka Ďuračková, PhD.

Project Manager, Expert Guarantor

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Prof. MUDr. Boris Mravec, PhD.

Guarantor of Neurophysiological Experiments

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Ing. Blanka Filová

Financial Manager

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RNDr. Lucia Andrezálová, PhD.

Scientific Researcher

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Doc. MUDr. Katarína Babinská, PhD., MSc.

Nutritional Expert

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Ing. Mária Chomová, PhD.

Scientific Researcher

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Mgr. Monika Dvořáková, PhD.

Scientific Researcher

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Mgr. Martina Horváthová, PhD.

Scientific Researcher

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Katrenčíková Barbora

Scientific Researcher

Photography of konarikova
Ing. Katarína Koňariková, PhD.

Scientific Researcher

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PharmDr. Jarmila Kucharská, CSc.

Scientific Researcher

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MUDr. Monika Laššánová, PhD.

Clinical Pharmacologist

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Ing. Lucia Laubertová, PhD.

Scientific Researcher

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Prof. MUDr. Stanislav Oravec, CSc.

assessment of atherogenic risk

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RNDr. Zuzana Országhová, PhD.

Manager of Project Website, Scientific Researcher

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RNDr. Zuzana Paduchová, PhD.

Scientific Researcher

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RNDr. Oľga Uličná, CSc.

Scientific Researcher

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Ing. Oľga Vančová

Scientific Researcher

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Mgr. Lucia Cádrová

internal PhD. Student

Photography of cernackova
Mgr. Alena Szelle Černáčková

internal PhD. Student

Photography of janubova
Mgr. Mária Janubová

internal PhD. Student

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RNDr. Zuzana Sumbalová, PhD.

Scientific Researcher

Photography of szentesiova
RNDr. Zuzana SZENTESIOVÁ

Scientific Researcher

Technical staff

  • Viera Ujlakyová – assistent of project manager
  • Chrappová Mária – administrative worker
  • Opálená Daniela – laboratory technician
  • Chandogová Ľubica - laboratory technician
  • Oľga Reinoldová – laboratory technician

Publication outputs

Project budget

The project is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund under the Interreg V-A Operational Program of the Slovak Republic - Austria
Austria
Total eligible budget

765 292 EUR

EU contribution

650 498 EUR

Partner's own resources

114 794 EUR

Slovakia
Total eligible budget

543 441 EUR

EU contribution

461 925 EUR

Partner's own resources

27 172 EUR

Co-financing (SR budget)

54 344 EUR

Interreg V-A Cross-border Cooperation Program of the Slovak Republic - Austria logo
NutriAging Project Logo

Frequently asked questions

Ten Tips to Healthy Eating

  1. Eat a diverse diet. To maintain your health, you need over 40 different nutrients and no single food  can supply all of them. The higher the variety in the diet, the lower is the risk of a unbalanced diet.  If you have a high fat meal, have a low-fat dinner. If you eat a large portion of meat in one day, you can choose fish for the next day.
  2. The basis of your nutrition is carbohydrate-rich food. Most people do not eat enough food rich in carbohydrates like bread, pasta, rice, other cereals or potatoes. More than half of the calories (50-55% of the daily energy) in the diet should come from carbohydrates. Prefer whole grain products to increase your fiber intake.
  3. Eat fruits and vegetables several times per day:  Enjoy at least 3 portions of vegetables and 2 portions of fruit each day. This could also include legumes such as lentils, chickpeas and beans as well as (unsalted) nuts. Vegetables and fruit supply you with plenty of nutrients, dietary fiber and phytochemicals and also contribute to satiation.
  4. Drink sufficiently: Drink about 1.5 liters per day. Water or other calorie-free beverages, such as unsweetened tea, are the best choice. Sugar-sweetened and alcoholic beverages are not recommendable.
  5. Keep a healthy body weight and feel good. Which weight is appropriate for you, depends on a number of factors, including gender, height, age and inheritance. Excessive weight increases the likelihood of many diseases including heart disease and cancer. Physical activity is a good way to increase your daily energy expenditure and to improve your quality of life.
  6. Milk- and milk productsConsume milk and dairy products such as yoghurt and cheese 3 times daily Be careful and prefer the low fat variations. Take cream and butter carefully. Eat fish at least once per week.
  7. Reduce meat, sausage, sugar and salt: Meet and sausage — max. 2 bis 3 portions per week, max. 3 eggs weekly. From meat and sausages take small and low fat portions. Prefer white meat.
    Sugar-sweetened foods and beverages are not recommendable and should be avoided whenever possible. Sugar should only be consumed in small amounts.
    Limit the consumption of salt and reduce the proportion of high-salt foods. Be creative in flavouring with herbs and spices.
  8. Chose health promoting fats: Prefer vegetable oils and fats such as rapeseed oil or nuts. Avoid hidden fats. Fat is often „invisibly“ present in processed foods like sausage, pastry, sweets, fast food and convenience products.
  9. Prepare your food carefully: Cook food as long as necessary but as short as possible, using little amount of water and fat. Avoid burning the food during roasting, grilling, baking and frying.
  10. Stay active: Combine a wholesome diet with plenty of physical activity. It is not only regular exercise which is helpful, but also an active daily life which includes frequent walking and cycling.

Well-being depends on the physical and mental stimulation. Good physical conditions positively affects physical and mental health. About half of the people after the fifth decade of life are suffering from memory impairments, about three quarters after the age of seventy. Memory problems, however, sometimes also have younger people, including pupils and students.

Body cells are acting very efficiently at conditions of good health. In stages of inactivity or when we are bedridden then we need time for rehabilitation. Appropriate physical activity leads to a “stimulation” of brain cells. This means that an active lifestyle is needed for an active cell metabolism, however, inactivity causes the opposite.

Today we know that probably the only effective preventive tool against premature aging of the brain is the training of cognitive functions. It is building a "mental reserve". Memory training is important because it keeps the brain active and healthy. In addition, it helps to release certain substances that are important for an active immune system and protect the brain from diseases and damage.

Brain practice needs to be done in every stage of life, especially during aging. Every day we could find time for activities that keep our brain “on alert”. This comprises  reading of books, playing parlor games like scrabble or bridge, finishing crossword puzzles, or communication with other people. This means that memory training and communication is not only socially needed, bur also important to train the brain and contribute to the prevention of mental diseases.

The Alzheimer's Dementia is the official name of the disease, which is annually the diagnose for thousands of people around the world. It mainly affects people over the age of 65 years, but also younger people.

The word dementia comes from the Latin dementia, that is, irrationality, imprecision. He was first used by Aurelius Cornelius Celsus in the book "De medicine" in the 1st century AD. As a medical term, the expression dementia appears later at Filip PinAlois Alzheimer's, the head physician at La Salpetriere at the Paris hospital. Pinel is considered to be a creator of a modern approach to mental illness that has introduced an element of human attitude and kindness into the care of the mentally handicapped. In 1801 he published a book on mental illness, describing the psychiatric syndrome he calls dementia. In modern psychiatric classification, the concept of dementia was introduced in 1814 by Filip Pinela's student Dominique Esquirol. He has marked it as a brain disease characterized by a weakening of perception, communication and will.

In the 19th century, the development of medical science continued, a microscope with sufficient resolution to detect the atrophy of brain cells. At this time, Alojz Alzheimer was the one who made fundamental discoveries in the study of dementia due to microscopic analysis.

He was born in 1864 in the German village of Markbreit. Psychiatric practice began at the Hospital for Mental Illness and Epileptics in Frankfurt am Main where he was interested in the treatment of mental illness.

Very soon he became a recognized authority in the clinic of senile dementia. Because he was also a skilled laboratory technician, he achieved considerable accuracy in the descriptions of microscopic pathology. In 1902, he was invited to work at the University of Heidelberg with Professor Emil Kraepelin, the founder of modern clinical psychiatry. When Kraepelin was commissioned to lead a new clinical and research center in Munich, he had taken Alzheimer, 35 year old at the time, with him. New techniques of microscopic brain tissue staining enabled him to identify changes in brain cell architecture that accompany arteriosclerosis and senility. Alzheimer discussed his findings on the brain pathology and symptoms of presenile dementia on 3 November 1906, at the Tübingen meeting of the Southwest German Psychiatrists, however colleagues were not very interested.

Write to us

Please write your question regarding the project using the following contact form (* required fields) and we will be happy to answer. We will post interesting questions on the project website.