NUTRITIONAL INTAKE OF ELDERLY PEOPLE AMONG DIFFERENT OLD AGE HOMES

Nutrition

Elderly is any person above the age of 60 years. India's elderly population is currently around 104 million out of which 51.1 million and 52.8 million are males and females respectively. Human aging is a complex phenomenon involving biological, physiological, psychological and social changes that contribute to poor health. Nutrition plays an important role as a decisive factor contributing to human well-being and quality of life. This is a cross-sectional descriptive study conducted at different old age homes of Lucknow city. The tools used for this study included sociodemographic profile, health profile, 24-hr dietary recall of a single day and anthropometric measurement. For anthropometric measurement, height was measured using Stadiometer and Weight was measured using weighing balance. This was followed by calculating the Body Mass Index (BMI) of the participants. An average consumption of 1205 Kcal to 1557 Kcal energy was observed in case of males and 949 Kcal to 1376 Kcal in case of females. According to the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA), their intake did not meet the requirements. The protein intake in females is little close to the reference value, whereas the protein intake in male is low than the required value. The energy, carbohydrate and fat intake of all the subjects are low than the reference RDA value. 58% of the studied population are malnourished, either they are undernourished or over nourished. 26% of the total studied population are underweight. This shows that there is a great need to work on the nutritional status of elderly people among old age homes to prevent malnutrition and to improve their nutritional intake for healthy living. Geriatric Nutrition Assessment should be included and monitored from time to time and thus calls for further research in the field of geriatric nutrition. Regular monitoring and intervention can improve the health outcomes of the elderly.

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