Dietary Supplements

Efficacy and safety of a nutritional supplement based on vitamins, minerals, amino acids and plant extracts on a large population of older adults experiencing fatigue.

TL;DR

Daily intake of a specially formulated nutritional supplement (ApportAL®) resulted in a progressive improvement of both fatigue and quality of life in older adults, with significant improvements observed as early as after the first week of supplementation.

Key Findings

The nutritional supplement produced a 46% improvement in worst fatigue experienced and a 47.5% improvement in fatigue interference score over 35 days.

  • 458 individuals were recruited with an average age of 69 ± 10 years, 63.5% women
  • Fatigue was assessed at baseline (T0), after 7 days (T1), and after 35 days (T2)
  • Worst fatigue experienced improved by 46%
  • Interference score of fatigue improved by 47.5%
  • Improvement was significant after the first week and increased further over the remaining 4 weeks

Quality of life improved in both physical and mental components following supplementation.

  • Physical component of quality of life improved by 29%
  • Mental component of quality of life improved by 77.4%
  • Improvements were assessed using questionnaires at T0, T1, and T2
  • A significant improvement was observed as early as after the first week of supplementation

Self-reported adverse events were mild and decreased in prevalence over the course of supplementation.

  • 10.3% of individuals reported adverse events at T1 (after 7 days)
  • 8.5% of individuals reported adverse events at T2 (after 35 days)
  • Adverse events were described as mild
  • The percentage of affected individuals decreased from T1 to T2

The supplementation protocol involved two sachets per day for the first 7 days followed by one sachet per day for the remaining 28 days.

  • Supplement used was ApportAL® (Pharmanutra Spa, Pisa, Italy), based on vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and plant extracts
  • Total supplementation duration was 35 consecutive days
  • Higher dose (two sachets/day) was administered during the first 7 days
  • Participants were diagnosed with fatigue by their general practitioners prior to inclusion
  • Study design was a prospective observational study

The study population consisted of 458 older adults (>50 years) experiencing fatigue, with a majority being women.

  • Total recruited: 458 individuals
  • 63.5% were women
  • Average age was 69 ± 10 years
  • Participants were diagnosed with fatigue by their general practitioners
  • Two questionnaires were used to assess fatigue and quality of life at three time points

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Citation

Giovannini S, Castelli L, Iacovelli C, Loreti C, Biscotti L, Rossato M, et al.. (2026). Efficacy and safety of a nutritional supplement based on vitamins, minerals, amino acids and plant extracts on a large population of older adults experiencing fatigue.. Nutricion hospitalaria. https://doi.org/10.20960/nh.06137