Dietary intake in the elderly estimated by a 24 hour recall and a food frequency questionnaire

Abstract

Two hundred and thirty‐five tenants living in sheltered housing in Scotland were surveyed to identify the extent of under‐nutrition and the social factors which contribute to its development. A validated 24 h recall and the nutrient checklist published by NAGE were used to evaluate patterns of dietary intake. A questionnaire was developed which included scales designed to measure depression, social engagement, cognitive function, mobility and functional ability. The results show considerable evidence of a number of major nutrients in which there were low intakes. In order to express the extent of poor nutrition, a nutrient score was developed where points are awarded based on the number of nutrients falling below the Lower Reference Nutrient Intake, the Estimated Average Requirement or below half the daily Estimated Average Requirement.

Identifying the expectations of older food consumers

“…Risks of poor nutrition exist among people living in their own homes in the community with varying levels of support (Caughey et al, 1994;Locher et al, 1997;Magilvey et al, 1994;Tilston et al, 1994). For those living in the community, difficulties in food shopping have been identified (Wells, 1992) but the problems have not been specifically quantified.…”

What do elderly people eat?

“…There is considerable evidence which indicates that undernourishment is a problem among elderly people living in sheltered housing[ 2,6]. Almost without exception, the tenants in the survey were deficient in vitamin D. Reduced exposure to sunlight for the 22 per cent who were housebound exacerbates the problem of insufficient dietary vitamin D[ 2,6,7 ]. A further 58 per cent of tenants had additional nutritional deficiencies[2,6, 7].…”

“…In addition, though those elderly in institutional care are at most risk of overprescribing, the dependency of the elderly person is not a reliable indicator of the number of drugs taken. In some cases, the most active and least impaired elderly people were found to be being prescribed the highest number of drugs[1,2 ] and therefore tended to be most at risk of drug/nutrient interaction. In addition, it is recognized that the quantity and variety of foods eaten may be decreased to suit appetite and personal convenience.…”

Weight and skeletal size: comparisons between elderly people living in the community and in sheltered housing

“…This may indicate that nutritional support in sheltered housing is more effective or it may arise because the disability prompting admission to sheltered housing included a higher proportion of arthritis sufferers, whose condition is exacerbated by being overweight. While caution is required where data from two separate geographical regions are compared, and whilst further support may be advisable for some residents (Caughey et al, 1992(Caughey et al, , 1994a(Caughey et al, , 1994b), it appears that sheltered housing plays a role in the maintenance of nutritional status as age and physical frailty increase. This study was carried out amongst a primarily white, Caucasian population and further work would be required to establish whether this pattern is maintained in different ethnic groups.…”