Nutrition and the elderly

It is often assumed that ill health, increasing reliance on medicines (which come with their side effects) and mental decline go hand in hand with growing old. However, we all know of elderly men and women who are amazingly spritely, still active and have retained their mental faculties, so it must be possible to grow old in relatively good health.

Many factors can accelerate a decline in health including:

• Living alone leading to loss of interest in preparing home cooked meals
• Physical effort to prepare healthy food sometimes too much
• Poor quality nutrition in convenience meals or meals delivered to the home
• Poor appetite related to mental health, drug side effects or nutrient deficiency
• Loneliness or other mental health issues
• Drug induced nutritional deficiencies
• Side effects of medications

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Keep well to enjoy those grandchildren!

I am passionate about the difference some simple dietary changes and appropriate supplementation can make to the health of the elderly. If you are concerned about your own or a relatives loss of health or would like to take preventative steps to ensure you grow old feeling well, nutritional therapy can help in the following ways:

• Provide simple meal ideas suitable for one that are easy to prepare and help correct any nutritional deficiencies and restore interest in food again.
• Offer practical suggestions to help overcome physical effort of cooking.
• Assess possibility of vitamin or mineral deficiencies which may be contributing to mental decline, immunity and digestive problems or poor appetite.
• Investigate if drug-nutrient interactions (sometimes certain medicines deplete nutrients) are occurring and make suggestions for ways to manage this.
• I will happily correspond with GP's or other healthcare professionals to ensure the best outcome for the patient.