Funded under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), Mission 4 Component 2 Investment 1.3, Theme 10.
Funded under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), Mission 4 Component 2 Investment 1.3, Theme 10.
Evaluation of the food knowledge and nutritional status in free- livin...
Highlights
Coordinator
Verify the adequacy of nutrition in the elderly. Investigation on specific elements of risk on elderly nutrition starting collaboration with senior membership circles (i.e., church circles, sport circles) and elderly care homes.
Definition of new protocols/surveys for the evaluation of the nutritional status across life stages, with attention to maternal-infant dyad in the "first 1000 days"; b) adult population (including physically active people and athletes); and free-living older adults.
Evaluation and harmonization of existing nutritional protocols (M24)
Raising awareness among the elderly population and their caregivers through live and web-based meetings (M30)
Educational modules "for long - life learning” in master courses and continuing medical education (M18)
The quality of the diet is of fundamental importance in all age groups, and in particular for the elderly it can play a preventive role in relation to the development and/or progress of numerous pathologies, and at the same time represent a useful tool for optimizing the quality of life and aging (Miglioramento della salute dell’anziano per gli aspetti nutrizionali con particolare riguardo alla malnutrizione per difetto. Ministero della Salute, giugno 2021).
On the other hand, an inadequate diet, as well as smoking and a sedentary lifestyle, are all independent risk factors for mortality and the onset of numerous diseases. For all these reasons, nutrition is a key point for the health of the elderly, and proper attention must be paid to it. But the food knowledge of elderly subjects to date has not been rigorously taken into consideration by the scientific literature, despite the fact that various researches have shown that the elderly often do not eat a correct diet. For example, the survey by the Istituto Superiore di Sanità "passi d'argento" showed that only 10.1% of the Italian population over 70 eats 5 portions of fruit and vegetables a day and that only 41% of this group of the population is of normal weight (https://www.epicentro.iss.it/passi-argento/).
It is therefore important to evaluate the food knowledge of the elderly population, using a specific questionnaire to be validated precisely in the age group over 70, given that to date none has been published in the literature, in order to correlate this knowledge with the state of nutrition and to undertake an awareness-raising activity towards elderly people so that they adopt a correct lifestyle, promoting the practice of motor activity and the adoption of a healthy diet, through specific food education courses, consisting of a theoretical part on principles for a healthy diet, with specific advice for the elderly population, and a practical part consisting of a cooking course in which balanced recipes from a nutritional point of view specific for the elderly are presented (for example with an adequate leucine content to contrast sarcopenia or rich in calcium to avoid loss of de bone mineral density).
