Nutrition and Aging

          I identified multiple key takeaways from the nutrition and aging lecture. The first regarding our bodies’ ability to absorb vitamins and other nutrients in the gastrointestinal tract decreasing with age. This implies that as we age, we cannot maintain the same intake of macronutrients and micronutrients and yield the same benefits as we did when we were younger. This is important because if we encounter a client who is Vitamin B deficient, but reports taking a Vitamin B supplement their entire life, we can then further investigate to see if the client has increased the amount of the vitamin as needed.

         This principle is also true for protein intake. As we age, we need to eat more meat and more protein than before. However, as we age, our ability to chew and swallow, our taste, and our digestive system are all altered, leading to less intake of protein due to the barriers associated with it. This is a chronic problem because at the time we need to increase our protein intake, we are typically decreasing it. This contributes to loss of muscle mass, slowed wound healing, and many other aspects of a client’s health. Muscle loss impacts all aspects of a client’s life—mobility, strength, balance, self-care, and more.

OT can address this by referring clients to a dietitian for a mechanically altered diet for chewing or swallowing difficulties and then working with the client on self-feeding by providing adaptive utensils or other equipment as needed. Additionally, to address this in a group setting, we can lead a cooking group to assist clients who are malnourished in preparing protein-rich meals and identifying various foods that are protein-rich. By increasing protein intake, muscle mass is increased, increasing a client’s ability to improve his or her strength, mobility, and self-care abilities.

         Food insecurities are a problem larger than I previously imagined. The ability of a client to prepare, purchase, or eat healthy meals is limited when the client’s income is limited. If a client is told to increase their food intake for weight gain, they tend to forget the fact that those foods should meet their nutritional needs, not just their calorie needs. The likelihood of a client to find a budget-friendly meal that is readily available, meets their calorie needs, and meets their nutritional needs is very slim. This increases the likelihood of the client to seek out fast-food options because they know that it will be cheaper and most likely meet their calorie needs.

OT interventions to address this with individual clients can include budgeting to identify what amount of money can be spent on groceries, then identifying what meal combinations meet the client’s needs, and teaching the client to prepare those meals at home. In the event that the client’s budget does not accommodate their nutritional needs, we can provide them with local resources to utilize that will assist them in meeting those needs, such as food banks, congregate meal programs, senior box programs, etc.

         Loneliness and isolation are two chronic issues that have a large impact on an elderly person’s life. If a person is lonely, he or she is not going to be motivated to go to their kitchen and prepare a large, nutrient-dense meal. These individuals are also more likely to have a food insecurity because healthcare costs for single individuals are on average $130 more than those outside of that category. That means that if this person does have a nutrient deficiency and seek medical services to address this, they have less money to then purchase meals that will improve their health. This leads to a cycle of more medical issues, less money, and less healthy meals to improve health.

The following sentence from the assigned reading also stuck out to me regarding caregiver and client education: “Fernández- Barrés and colleagues (2017) found that many caregivers lack knowledge about proper nutrition requirements and healthy cooking techniques, but that their knowledge improved significantly after just a 1-hour education session” (Johnson & Janssen, 2018). In just one session, a caregiver can gain the knowledge to not only improve their own nutrition and health, but also improve their ability to prepare nutrient-dense meals using proper technique for our clients. We should not underestimate the power of caregiver education and the impact it can make on our clients’ lives.

References

Johnson, M. & Janssen, S. (2018). Malnutrition among older adults: The role of occupational therapy. OT Practice, 23(3): 12-15.