What is Nutrition and why is it Important for Older Adults?

As it turns out, functional disability is related to a bad diet.  Besides, members of this population are also at increased risk of drug-induced nutritional deficiencies due to the number of prescription drugs they take.

Older people often find grocery shopping difficult, feel cramped in the kitchen, or lack the skills necessary to maintain a good diet. Therefore, caregivers come to the rescue, but you may choose to seek additional support from agencies that provide home support services.

At Access HealthCare Services Inc., we have personal support workers (PSW) who are capable of assisting you with all of your home care needs.

In this article, we’ll talk about why you need to customize the nutrient intake for older adults.

How nutritional intake needs change with aging

Here are the prominent reasons.

• The metabolism slows due to inactivity since the energy requirement decreases, all of this implies that they need to eat less.
• The food absorption abilities to filter the nutrients become less efficient, their nutrient requirements (particularly as a function of body mass) increases.
• Drug-nutrient interactions affect metabolism, which leads to nutrient wasting. This is especially true of the B vitamins.

A Modified Food Guide Pyramid for Older Adults

Research has already given a developed way to handle change in dietary needs  For the aging population.

According to the  Canadian Food Guide, there is an urgent need for calcium, vitamin D, and vitamin B12 supplements.

The research confirms that increased physical activity allows for the intake of larger quantities of food, which in turn increases the consumption of all the necessary nutrients. Therefore, physical activity helps maintain muscle mass with aging.

Nutritional Patterns of Older Adults

There have been five eating patterns:

Eating white bread 

In this case, people obtain prominent energy from white bread (16 percent, on average).

Healthy pattern

The favorable pattern where people get energy from fruits, high fiber cereal, and whole-grain bread.

 Eating Meat 

The other favorable pattern where people get energy from meat and potatoes.

Eating sweets

In this pattern, they get energy from baked sweets.

Unhealthy diet

They tend to get energy from alcohol.

Protein Intake 

The intake of protein needs to be moderately high for maintaining nitrogen balance and age-related lower energy intake.

By contrast, a high protein often leads to an increase in the risk of toxicity or impaired renal function.

With a proficient personal care assistant, aside, you are tension free about the minuscule things in the diet.

Other Macronutrients

Dietary fiber is one of the main macronutrients that help maintain intestinal health and protect against heart disease and other metabolic conditions.

Besides, if the intake of omega-3 fatty acids is high, it protects against many conditions, including cardiovascular events.

You will get this macronutrient in fatty fish, flax seeds, and walnuts.

The Micronutrients

Calcium

Calcium helps build and protect your bones, also makes the blood to clot, our muscles to contract, and our heart to beat.

Vitamin B12

Good vitamin B12 concentrations help with peripheral neuropathy, balance disturbances, cognitive disturbances, and physical disability.

Vitamin D

Found in fortified milk, fatty fishes, vitamin D helps with all-around improvement.

Steps to improve nutrition intake for seniors

• Reduce sodium (salt)
• Monitor fat intake
• Consume more calcium and vitamin D
• Eat more fiber
• Cut back on sugar and dry foods
• Monitor vitamins and minerals
• Increase water intake
• Exercise regularly, as permitted by your physician
• Please do NOT make any changes to your diet or activity regime without consulting your physician. They will know what is best for you.

Conclusion

We want to let you know that we select the personal care assistants after a thorough examination. There’s strict adherence to our policies during the hiring procedures.

We make recurrent efforts to assign an appropriate PSW, who is familiar with your cultural and social environment.

We can talk about your unique requirements once we connect.

Shoot us a Quick Message.