Nutrition & Aging


Nutrition in older adults has become a serious issue within the medical field. I think we can all agree that nutrition at any age has an effect on your quality of life, mental health, physical health, and so much more. For older adults, their bodies process nutrients less efficiently, and when they are in hospitals or other healthcare facilities, their bodies are in “stressed states,” leading their systems to become hypermetabolic (increased metabolism) and catabolic (breaking down chemical reactions). In other words, their bodies are working overtime to try and return to its normal state, and to accomplish this, they will need increased caloric intake. While there has been much research done about the needs of a person when their bodies are malnourished, little is being done to actually take that research and use it to provide better nutrition to these older adults that are in hospitals, long term facilities, and even community-based settings.

As we discussed in our nutrition lecture today, I took away two big ideas:
1) Nutrition is SO important in older adults, but it is often a forgotten component of their care plan, and we must be sure to advocate for our clients in this area.
2) OTs can play a huge role in nutrition! Not only can we provide education on the importance nutrition has on our bodies, but so many interventions can fall within our scope of practice to ensure our clients are receiving best practice care.  

Possible interventions to provide to an individual client:
-       Work on a budget together to discuss how to purchase healthy foods at a decent cost; include community resources as needed
-       Meal prep and cleanup with the client based on the items chosen from the budget to teach them how to cook healthy recipes
-       If their malnourishment comes from loss of appetite, advocate for social eating opportunities for the client to provide a sense of belonging

Possible interventions to provide to a group of clients:
-       Inservice on the importance of nutrition; holding statistics about readmission rates, studies that have shown to increase weight at a faster rate with nutritional supplements
-       Provide handouts about community resources regarding food insecurities; i.e. Food Banks, Meals on Wheels, Senior Box Programs

There could be many reasons that an individual is in a malnourished state, for example, limited health education, decreased financial resources, social resources, or lack of physical activity to name a few. It is our job as OTs to make sure older adults are educated on the facts of nutrition and malnourishment. More research on OTs role in nutrition, such as preventing and treating malnutrition, is needed to support previous findings.

Resources:
-       https://www.aota.org/Publications-News/otp/Archive/2018/Malnutrition-Among-Older-Adults-Role-of-Occupational-Therapy.aspx
-       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPNZKyXqN1U



Thanks for reading!

Sincerely,
The Young OTS

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