Home-Delivered Meals: Characterization of Food Intake in Elderly Beneficiaries

Abstract

Objective. In this study, we focus on elderly people (≥70 years old) benefiting from a home delivery meal service as part of a social welfare program. We aimed to: (i) assess the gap between the recommended and actual nutritional intake in this population and (ii) study the relationship between the intake of nutrients and the variables characterizing the participants’ health and nutritional status. Design. A dietary survey (24-hour record) was conducted during a home interview, with 64 people receiving a home delivery meal service (75% women; 70–97 years old). At the same time, the participants answered questionnaires assessing their nutritional and health status. Results. Our data showed that the consumption of 70 to 80% participants was not sufficient for reaching the nutritional recommendations for energy and macronutrients. Additionally, the data showed that the lower the energy and protein intakes, the higher the risk of malnutrition. In addition, one third of the participants were both overweight or obese and at risk of undernutrition or undernourished. Our study demonstrated that the heavier the person, the more difficult it was for them to meet the nutritional recommendations based on kilograms of body weight. Finally, individuals receiving two to three delivered meals per day had higher energy and protein intakes than those receiving a single meal. Conclusion. These results suggest that it is important that home meal delivery companies improve the quality of their meals and service so that their recipients can better meet nutritional recommendations.

Prevalence of Undernutrition and Risk of Undernutrition in Overweight and Obese Older People

“…According to the present results, underweight people were more likely to be at risk of undernutrition than well-nourished compared with normal weight status. In fact, a low BMI is a criterion that is used in several undernutrition screening tools including the Mini-Nutritional Assessment -MNA (31), the Nutritional Risk Screening -NRS (38) and the Undernutrition Universal Screening Tool -MUST (39), though with slightly different BMI thresholds [<19, (19)(20)(21), (21)(22)(23) for the MNA; < 20.5 for the NRS; <18.5; [18. [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] for the MUST].…”

“…Chronic and acute diseases have a negative impact on nutritional status, both through a negative impact on skeletal muscle protein-anabolic pathways and due to reduced appetite and nutrient intake (20). Finally, Fleury et al (21) observed an average daily protein intake per kg body weight of 1.0 g for older people with normal weight status and 0.7 for obese older people when considering the recommendation of 1.2 g protein / kg body weight / day in older people (22). In the obese older people, insufficient protein intake may lead to sarcopenic obesity, which is characterized by skeletal-muscle atrophy and increased adiposity (23).…”

Integration of the rural revitalization strategy in the construction of rural elderly services in the information age

“…In addition, the follow-up effect of the one-child policy, as well as a large number of the rural young and middle-aged population going out to work and do business, etc., the traditional rural family oldage care is increasingly inappropriate, difficult to meet the old-age needs of the rural elderly in the new era. How to take the people as the center, constantly meet the growing demand of rural elderly for pension services, and enhance and optimize the supply of rural pension services has become an important topic facing society [11][12].…”

Implementing a Community-Based Initiative to Improve Nutritional Intake among Home-Delivered Meal Recipients

“…Despite the critical importance of nutritional intake among high-risk older adult populations, older adults often lack awareness of how to routinely meet their nutritional needs given their health complexities [ 12 , 13 ]. Among HDM recipients specifically, the meal consumption of as many as 80% of older adults was insufficient for meeting recommended energy and macronutrient intake, further elevating the risk of malnourishment [ 14 ]. One potential option to improve the nutritional intake of HDM recipients is to expand meal options and provide older adults with greater choice and control over selecting their daily meals [ 15 ].…”