Perception of Difficulties Encountered in Eating Process from European Elderlies' Perspective

Abstract

To maintain wellbeing, independence and nourishment of elderly population, one promising strategy is to provide home care by delivering food using “meals on wheels” (MoW) system. Even when the food is home‐delivered, the difficulties encountered by elderlies during the overall eating process can be a limiting factor. Hence, the objective of this self‐reported study was to explore the difficulty perception in the entire eating process from opening up the package, reheating, hand manipulation and oral processing of the food to bolus swallowing in 405 elderly consumers from five European countries (Finland, France, Poland, Spain and United Kingdom) with three different levels of dependency (category 1: participants living at home with help needed for food purchasing; category 2: participants living at home who need help for meal preparation or meal delivery; category 3: participants living in nursing homes/sheltered accommodation). Frequencies of responses and cross tabulation test were calculated for the difficulties perceived. Results show that the most difficult package to open was the cap irrespective of country or dependency levels (at P < 0.05). Although, glass was the most preferred packaging material, category (P = 0.034) and country (P = 0.001) had significant influence. Self‐feeding dependency was correlated with the eating difficulties perceived, category 1 participants did not perceive difficulties in the meal preparation and reported minimal difficulties in the hand manipulation and oral processing (<30%), whilst the difficulties perceived by categories 2 and 3 were significantly higher (∼60% of participants). The insights generated might be helpful for designing efficient MoW systems with appropriate user‐friendly features. Practical Applications Ageing population is in significant increment in Europe. For elderlies, who are unable to cook due to a various forms of functional incapability, “meals on wheels” (MoW) is a promising approach to extend their independence. In this work, difficulties in the eating process (opening of packaging, meal preparation and self‐feeding) of European elderly population with different levels of self‐eating independency have been investigated using self‐reporting from 405 participants. The most difficult packaging to open was the screw‐cap. Individuals who needed help for only food purchasing did not perceive difficulties in meal preparation and oral processing. Dental status was driving difficulty perception during biting and chewing. It is expected that with the insights generated in this study, MoW operators will improve the packaging in the meals; provide adaptive cutleries and design food with suitable texture ensuring optimum and easy oral processing.

Acceptability of Convenience Food Among Older People

“…When convenience food packaging, or any other packaging, can be sorted and utilized later, it increases the acceptability of a product. Laguna et al (2016) emphasize that packages that fulfill the requirements of older people would also help them to maintain a sense of autonomy and control in their lives.…”

“…Rusko et al, 2011;Silayoi, & Speece, 2004) and what sort of problems they have experienced in package handling (e.g. Duizer et al, 2009;Laguna et al, 2016). Opening food packages is problematic for many elderly people because of tight lids, small print, and spillage during opening (Duizer et al, 2009).…”

Oral health–related food selectivity among French independently living elders

“…Food‐related well‐being covers many concepts such as cooking commensality, produce quality, visual and taste pleasure . Mealtime experience implies sensory (including sight, touch, smell and taste), tactile and thermal senses, as well as physical abilities such as food handling, chewing and swallowing . Subjects over 65 years may, however, suffer from impaired chemosensory perception, changes in saliva secretion and decreased jaw muscles strength .…”

“…Although the influence of chemosensory impairment on eating pleasure is nowadays a matter of debate, mealtime experience may be complicated with age‐related changes such as decreased masticatory muscle strength and saliva reduction . Food processing with poor oral conditions including dry mouth, dental decay, periodontal disease, compromised dentition and teeth replacement by means of denture may also generate chewing difficulties and pain . Over 65 years, edentate and dentate persons with less than 10 teeth frequently complain that they cannot eat hard to chew foods such as meat, raw fruits and vegetables .…”

Packaging Concepts for Ready-to-Eat Food: Recent Progress

“…To help older people remain independent for a longer time it is necessary to design easy-to-open packaging [74]. Also, the information on packaging should be written in a large font that is easy to read.…”