SONETTO

As people age, many in Europe develop chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. These conditions often worsen over time, requiring specialised care or even hospital admission. Unhealthy changes in body composition—gaining fat mass (obesity) and losing muscle mass, strength, and function (sarcopenia)—are key contributors to these diseases. Poor nutrition and inactivity play major roles, creating a large burden on individuals and the healthcare system. Fortunately, these problems can be addressed. Early diagnosis, monitoring and prevention of obesity and sarcopenia in primary or community care are crucial to treat these conditions before they fully develop and require expensive specialised secondary care. In this project, we focus on older adults around retirement age. Although all aging people are at risk of gaining weight and losing muscle mass, there is an even higher risk of becoming overweight and sarcopenic during the transition from working life to retirement, due to changes in poor nutritional intakes and lower physical activity levels. However, because of these rapid changes, retirement also offers a great window of opportunity to improve lifestyle, as older adults already need to restructure their daily activities. We aim to provide essential insights required and develop innovative, digital, strategies in primary care for preventing obesity, sarcopenia and sarcopenic obesity. We will do this in co-creation with primary healthcare professionals and older adults. We develop and test a blended care approach that combines the empathy and personal attention of face-to-face guidance with the accessibility and persuasive nature of online tools. This dual approach promotes greater self-management and enhances adherence to dietary advice and exercise within the home environment. With this project, we contribute to obesity and sarcopenia prevention by nutrition, exercise and technology and thereby prevent overreliance on secondary care.