Importance of nutrition and lifestyle for elderly during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Presently the world is experiencing a pandemic of a global magnitude never before witnessed and recorded by human civilization. No one is excluded from this disease and the most vulnerable are the very young and/the very old in our population. It is the most highly communicable and severe viral infection and most of our reproductive age population show practically no signs or symptoms of infection unless they are tested positive using the PCR method or arrive at the hospital in acute respiratory distress.(1) The infection spreads mostly in: 1) closed environment with poor ventilation such as clubs, café, restaurants, meeting rooms; 2) among crowds of people such as in public stations, malls, religious gatherings, and cinemas as well as; 3) within close contact with people usually friends, family or co-workers who form the cluster most likely to be infected with the virus.(2)

Validating Accuracy of a Mobile Application against Food Frequency Questionnaire on Key Nutrients with Modern Diets for mHealth Era

“…Baseline daily recipes with variations of added calories, proteins, vegetables, fruits, or fats for all categories were included in these diets. We included four categories of modern diets as (1) liquid diets [35,39]; (2) convenient diets (canned food, high-school café diet, and fast foods) [8,33,34]; (3) ethnic diets of Western (American, Mexican, Italian, and Mediterranean) and Eastern (Japanese, Chinese, and Korean) origins [31,32], and (4) smoothies added to these diets [35][36][37][38].…”

“…As many diets were reported with insufficient essential nutrients [8,40,41], we have categorized liquids and smoothies [35][36][37][38][39] as important modern diets in healthcare and community settings. Additionally, convenient diets [33,34] are common modern diets in addition to various ethnic diets [31,32].…”

“…Liquid diets are most commonly used by frail elders or patients with gastrointestinal (GI) disorders or recovering from surgery and illness, or in palliative care settings for terminally ill cancer patients in modern healthcare settings [35,39]. Additionally, liquid diets are essential for humans to maintain basic hydration, and healthy foods are necessary to maintain GI motility and for the microbiome in the human GI system to enhance immune functions for human health [65,66].…”

“…The vegetables included broccoli, cabbage, kale, and spinach. Ethnic Chinese, Italian, and Mediterranean fruit smoothies included ginger roots, baby spinach, beet juice, Japanese matcha smoothies, and Korean multigrain smoothies [35][36][37][38].…”

“…The culture, climate, soil characteristics, and socio-economic status have nurtured the various traditional diets, including examples in the Mediterranean, Italian, convenient American, Chinese, or Japanese diets [31,32]. With urbanization, globalization, and the aging population, convenient fast foods [33,34], high school foods [8], smoothies [35][36][37][38], liquids [35,39], and dozens of other diet types have been influenced by immigration [31]; however, many diets are reported with insufficient essential nutrients; many Western diets could contain excessive empty calories [40] and rice-based Eastern diets would have insufficient zinc and iron [41]. Accurate assessment of nutrient intakes and more conveniently accessible tools such as mobile apps are critical for personalized nutrition [42].…”