Poor diet in the elderly

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By pro_admin

Always betting on healthy lifestyle habits in which the fundamental pillar is a healthy and balanced diet, and looking for the means to reduce all those eating disorders that affect a large part of the population, we often forget a group that is in a situation of malnutrition with the health risks that this implies. We are talking about the elderly, the elderly who, due to various factors, cannot access a balanced diet and who in many cases mean death.

Malnutrition in the elderly

More and more cases of elderly people arriving at the emergency department in a state of malnutrition and significant dehydration are observed. This makes their recovery much more difficult, in addition to causing endless diseases of all kinds, from digestive problems, lung diseases, muscle weakening, heart problems, anemia, to reaching depression in many cases. The risks of malnutrition in the elderly are more than evident given the special state of health caused by aging.

The reasons for poor diet in older people are varied. It may be due to physical causes, such as difficulty chewing that makes them choose easy-to-eat but nutrient-poor foods or fatigue that prevents them from cooking, or the difficulty for an elderly person to visit the supermarket to provide themselves with adequate food. Other times poor diet is due to a delicate economic situation and others to mental deterioration that prevents them from being aware of their needs.

Obviously, the elderly who are most at risk of malnutrition are those who live alone and do not have enough family or social help to supervise their diet or get them the food they need. In these cases, primary care doctors are the only ones who can prevent this problem with regular weight checks and by calling social services, in case the elderly need help.

How to avoid malnutrition in the elderly

But older people who live alone are not the only ones who are malnourished, and when they reach old age there is also a loss of appetite motivated both by a low mood and by the difficulties involved in age to chew and digest food. In this way, it is very common for the elderly to reduce the food they can eat, thus preventing the body from receiving all the nutrients it needs.

That is why it is very important to have family support for the elderly, supervising what they eat and facilitating access and food intake. If the older person cannot chew well due to certain oral problems, it is better to prepare healthy vegetable purees before simply letting him eat a glass of milk. We must remember the importance of a good diet, especially in the elderly, since given their special physical characteristics, a state of malnutrition can mean the difference between the recovery of an illness or the aggravation of their state of health and, therefore, of their quality of life.

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