Malnutrition : What do older people think? – AGE survey

The Horizon 2020-funded PROMISS project works for understanding the interactions between malnutrition, appetite, changes in smell or taste, and physical activity among older persons living at home, and will identify older persons’ needs and preferences regarding nutrition and physical activity. Based on this, the project will develop new food concepts and food products adapted to the needs and preferences of people as they age, and will contribute to improve the quality of care that health professionals offer to older persons. It will also make sure that nutrition remains a key aspect of policies aimed to improve active and healthy ageing in Europe.

Being the target group of the PROMISS research project, older people’s views are much welcome at any stage of the process. In the first newsletter of the project, AGE performed a little survey with the support of its Italian member Solimai, gathering some insights of seniors’ preferences and attitudes towards food and protein intake at their care setting. It emerges, for example, that the majority of the interviewed seniors are open to taste new food and to vary the type of meals. The caring personnel of Solimai reports that “the fact that guests are eating all together, it often happens that some of them do not follow their personal tastes, but choose their meal on the basis of what they see or think there is in their neighbour’s dish”.

When living at home alone, the risk of malnutrition might increase: the President of the Flemish Dietetic Association, Mr. Van Schaik adds that “if you lose your partner, you have to eat alone or you do not like to cook any more, malnutrition is around the corner. People who get company, who have help to cook and make them to eat better, are better-off, especially when they eat together”.

This extract of PROMISS newsletter highlights the results of such survey and calls for greater awareness of older citizens on their nutrition.

For the overview on the preliminary results for PROMISS, please read here the whole newsletter prepared by AGE.

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