Maintaining and improving strength and muscle that decline with age requires doing activities in one's daily life. In this study, using walking speed as an index, we investigated whether long-term nutritional intervention using leucine enriched jelly is effective for improving the walking ability of frail elderly people at home.

  We divided the frail elderly at home into an intervention group (8 cases) using a leucine enriched jelly and a control group (6 cases). We then intervened with them over a period of 13 months. We also performed walking measurements, dietary surveys, MNA^Ⓡ-SF, and BMI calculations before and after the intervention period. Free walking speed, step-length, step-rate, and walk ratio were calculated from the walking measurements.

  It was confirmed that the addition of leucine enriched jelly to the elderly's diet improved the walking speed of the elderly, as well as their BMI, step-length, step-rate, and walk ratio. On the other hand, in cases where walking speed decreased, BMI also decreased, but the walk ratio, which is largely responsible for stable walking that prevents falls, improved. From these results, long-term nutritional intervention using leucine enriched jelly was effective in improving the walking ability of frail elderly people at home, and helped maintain or improve their BMI. However, it is necessary to study the walking speed and walk ratio to further improve the walking ability of frail elderly individuals.