Why Seniors Have Different Nutritional Needs

Perceptual changes

• Hearing: Diminished or loss of hearing affects the ability to maintain good nutrition. The difficulty and frustration from the inability to hold a conversation with an eating partner out at a restaurant or at a social function can limit one’s food experience.
• Smell: The loss of smell can have a huge impact on the types of meals one chooses to eat as there is less satisfaction. This can lead to poor food choices.
• Taste: One of the most common complaints is in regards to the diminished taste in food. As taste buds decrease, so does the taste for salty and sweet — often times making food taste more bitter or sour. This may cause your love one to eat fewer fruits and vegetables.

Physiological changes

• Energy: Expenditure generally decreases with advancing age because of a decrease in basal metabolic rate and physical activity, thus decreasing the needs of calories.
• Function: Bodies also begin to experience a decrease in kidney function, redistribution of body composition, and changes in the nervous system.

Other age-related changes

• Dentition: The makeup of a set of teeth (including how many, their arrangement, and their condition) can change. The loss of teeth and/or ill-fitting dentures can lead to the avoidance of hard and sticky foods. Older people with dental problems may avoid some fruits and vegetables, such as apples or uncooked carrots, because of this.
• Gastrointestinal changes: Chronic gastritis, constipation, delayed stomach emptying, and gas may also lead to avoiding fruits and vegetables, as well as other healthy foods. Thus, the food categories that should be emphasized may get eliminated instead.

• Fear of personal safety (which affects the ability to go grocery shopping)
• Lack of health insurance (which may cause malnutrition to go undetected)
• Financial concerns
• Institutionalization or hospitalizations (that do not ensure adequate nutrition)
• Lack of interest in cooking or eating alone
• Loss of a spouse or family member

Read more:What Causes Loss of Appetite in the Elderly?

1. The USDA Food Patterns
2. The DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) Eating Plan

What is the recommended daily nutrition for seniors?

• Fruits — 1½ to 2 ½ cups
  What is the same as ½ cup of cut-up fruit? A 2-inch peach or ¼ cup of dried fruit.
• Vegetables — 2 to 3½ cups
  What is the same as one cup of cut-up vegetables? Two cups of uncooked leafy vegetables.
• Grains — 5 to 10 ounces
  What is the same as one ounce of grains? A small muffin, a slice of bread, a cup of flaked, ready-to-eat cereal, or ½ cup of cooked rice or whole-grain pasta usually equal one ounce of grains.
• Protein foods — 5 to 7 ounces
  What is the same as one ounce of meat, fish or poultry? One egg, ¼ cup of cooked beans or tofu, ½ ounce of nuts or seeds or one tablespoon of peanut butter.
• Dairy foods — 3 cups of fat-free or low-fat milk
  What is the same as one cup of milk? One cup of yogurt or 1½ to 2 ounces of cheese. One cup of cottage cheese is the same as ½ cup of milk.
• Oils — 5 to 8 teaspoons
  What is the same as oil added during cooking? Foods such as olives, nuts, and avocado have a lot of oil in them.
• Solid fats and added sugars (SoFAS) — keep the amount of SoFAS small
  If you eat too many foods containing SoFAS, you will not have enough calories for the nutritious foods you should be eating.

• Call up your local college or university
• Look for published experts online
• Try asking around on LinkedIn
• Visit a local clinic or hospital
• Ask your physician