Nutrition improvement in the elderly avoids three misunderstandings

In old age, it is a blessing to be able to eat, and it is more conducive to good health
if you can eat.
How can older people eat healthier? What are some common misconceptions to be aware of?

Myth 1: Vegetarians live longer and healthier lives

For some time, the saying "vegetarian is healthier" and "vegetarian lives longer" has been widely circulated, is this concept correct? The first core recommendation put forward by the new version of the Dietary Guidelines for the Elderly in China (2022) (hereinafter referred to as the "Guide") is "rich in food variety, sufficient animal food, and often eat soy products", and for the elderly aged 80 and above, it is recommended to "eat more fish, poultry, eggs, milk and beans, and moderate vegetables and fruits"
.
In other words, the understanding that "vegetarians live a healthier and longer life" lacks scientific basis
.

Experts said that with the reduction of activities, the elderly need for energy decreases, but the demand for most nutrients has not decreased, and the demand for some important nutrients such as protein, calcium, minerals and vitamins has increased
.
Mainly because with the increase of age, the digestive and absorption function of the elderly decreases, and the taste is easy to solidify, which is easy to cause a single variety of food, so it is necessary to enhance the awareness of the richness and importance of food varieties in the elderly
.

How can we achieve a wide variety of food? The Guide recommends that the elderly consume 12 kinds of foods per day and 25 different kinds of foods per week as much as possible, paying attention to thick and thin matching, meat and vegetable pairing, milk egg matching, vegetable and fruit matching
.

Relevant experts said that on the basis of a balanced diet for adults, the elderly should be provided with more abundant and diverse foods, especially animal foods and soy products
that are easy to digest and absorb, utilize and rich in protein 。 For the diet of the elderly, efforts should be made to ensure that the meal has vegetables, try to eat different types of vegetables, and pay special attention to choosing more dark vegetables, such as rape, green vegetables, spinach, purple cabbage, etc.
; Choose different types of fruits as much as possible, each eating less and more variety, and cannot replace fruits with vegetables; Animal meat, poultry, fish and shrimp animal foods should be eaten differently, and different types of milk and bean foods
should be eaten.

Why ensure adequate intake of animal foods and soy products? Because these two types of food can provide rich high-quality protein, rich in vitamins and calcium, iron, zinc and other trace elements, and high
digestion and absorption utilization.
Some elderly people with "three highs" (high blood pressure, high blood lipids, high blood sugar) are worried that eating animal foods will affect blood lipids, so they do not eat or eat less meat dishes
.
In this regard, Sun Jianqin said that eating vegan can easily lead to nutritional deficiencies, such as insufficient protein intake can easily lead to hypoproteinemia, anemia, osteoporosis, and decreased immunity
.
In this regard, the new version of the dietary guidelines recommends that the elderly consume 40-50 grams of fish, livestock and poultry and egg foods per day, 15 grams of soy products, and recommend that the elderly drink 300-400 ml of milk or dairy products
with equivalent protein content per day.

In addition, considering the characteristics of the elderly such as decreased chewing and swallowing ability, weaker body, and reduced digestion and absorption function, it is recommended to choose foods
with fine texture and high energy and nutrient density.
The food of the elderly is more delicate and soft, such as fish to remove bone spurs, meat to make minced meat, meatballs, soybeans processed into tofu, soy milk and so on
.

Myth 2: It is difficult to buy old and thin

As the saying goes, "it's hard to buy old to be thin", many elderly people agree with this statement, thinking that thinness represents good health
.
However, scientific research has found that being too fat is not good for health, but being too thin can also cause great harm
to the health of the elderly.

The guidelines make it clear that the elderly should maintain an appropriate weight, and the body mass index (BMI) should preferably be maintained at 20.
0-26.
9
.
After entering the old age, whether it is too fat or too thin, extreme measures should not be taken to make the weight change drastically in a short period of time, and the possible causes should be analyzed, and moderate adjustments should be made in diet and physical activity to reduce the weight to the normal range
.

Relevant experts pointed out that the elderly need to pay more attention to weight changes, because weight loss is an important signal
of malnutrition and health deterioration in the elderly.
Due to the serious decline of physiological functions, the weakening of digestion and absorption, the incidence of malnutrition, anemia, muscle decay, osteoporosis and weakness in the elderly is very high, and more refined nutritional support and medical nutrition supplements are needed, and special medical foods (formula foods for special medical purposes), nutritional supplements are important sources of
nutrition.
Nursing homes, hospitals and communities should strengthen nutritional screening and guidance for the elderly, and when necessary, reasonably supplement nutrition for the elderly under the guidance of doctors and clinical
dietitians.

On the basis of reasonable nutrition, the new version of the dietary guidelines recommends that the elderly actively participate in outdoor activities according to their own health conditions to delay muscle decline, which is also an important way to
maintain a suitable weight.

Outdoor activities under the sun are conducive to the synthesis of vitamin D in the human body, and at the same time can enhance bones, improve the flexibility and flexibility of the spine and joints of the whole body, and reduce the occurrence and development
of muscle decay 。 He suggested that the elderly should do their best when exercising, choose a variety of physical activities according to local conditions, and try to exercise the whole body; Try to choose walking, brisk walking, tai chi and other slow and gentle ways to avoid adverse events such as body injury or falls caused by excessive activity; Reduce sedentary and static time such as watching TV and playing mobile phones, and maintaining the same posture for a long time can easily lead to local muscle strain, induce or aggravate lumbar muscle injury, back pain, decreased cardiopulmonary function, dizziness, etc
.

Myth 3: Eating is only for the sake of meeting the body's needs

Many people think that eating is just to meet physiological needs, and that eating alone is no different from eating together with multiple people, but it is not
.
Eating is not only a physiological behavior, but also a social behavior, so there is a saying
that "people eat more".
The Guide places great emphasis
on "encouraging common dining, maintaining a good appetite and enjoying delicious food".

Experts pointed out that the decline of body function, taste, smell, visual ability, etc.
, may affect the appetite of the elderly
.
There are many reasons for the decline in appetite of the elderly, some are affected by drugs, and some are affected by emotions, such as some elderly people who live alone are prone to lonely and depressed emotions, which will also cause decreased
appetite.
Therefore, it is necessary to analyze specific problems on a case-by-case basis, encourage the elderly to participate in group activities, and many people make and share food together to help pleasure the body and mind and stimulate appetite
.

For the general elderly, experts suggest that family members, relatives and friends should persuade and encourage the elderly to select, make, taste and comment on food together, so that they can feel the care and support from their families, relatives and friends, and maintain a good mental state; When the government, service organizations for the elderly and relevant social organizations build canteens and tables for the elderly, they can also encourage and organize the elderly to actively participate in the production and joint meals to create a good eating atmosphere
.

In addition, empty nesters and elderly people living alone especially need to have a group meal environment, and efforts should be made to create group meal opportunities for the elderly living alone to help them actively participate in social interaction
.
Encourage the elderly at home to eat with their families, and the elderly can also participate in the preparation of some foods as much as they can, which will help increase appetite and increase food intake; For the elderly who cannot take care of themselves, it is necessary to strengthen escort meals, carefully observe the eating status of the elderly, and ensure the safety
of meals.

Experts remind that the elderly should regularly conduct health examinations according to their own conditions, assess nutritional status, and prevent nutritional deficiencies
.
For older people, weight should be monitored frequently and weight loss
should be monitored.
In this way, nutritional problems and risk factors affecting physical health can be detected in time, so that targeted improvement measures can be taken to delay the occurrence and development of
diseases.

China Food News(Version 06, December 30, 2022)

(Responsible editor: Wang Ning)