At the recent Bord Bia “Healthy Ageing” conference, Helen King of Bord Bia presented research which examined the diet of elderly people in Sweden, Japan and the UK. The research was carried out in 3 phases;
At the recent Bord Bia “Healthy Ageing” conference, Helen King of Bord Bia presented research which examined the diet of elderly people in Sweden, Japan and the UK. The research was carried out in 3 phases;
- A global literature review
- Nutrient gap analysis (300 food diaries)
- B2B interviews to understand their consumer focus on the elderly population
By 2050, there will be over 2 billion people over the age of 60 years. In the US, 50% of all discretionary income is controlled by the over 50’s, and in the UK 80% of all private wealth is owned by older people, but this is primarily fixed assets such as their homes.
The food diaries found that many elderly people are unable to comply with balanced nutrition – meal skipping is prevalent as the elderly can become disinterested in food. The diaries also showed that the Japanese are getting enough protein, at 117g per day while both the Swedish and the UK participants fell well short of the recommended levels at 81g & 68g per day respectively. In all 3 countries the elderly are only getting between 25% (UK) and 60% (Japan) of the required vitamin D needed.
A second paper presented on the day by Professor Doug Paddon of the University of Texas, medical branch, found that the best way to maintain muscle in the elderly population is to eat 1.3g per day per kilo of body weight, of good quality protein such as protein derived from dairy, lean meat, poultry and seafood. This needs to be consumed 3 times a day (at meal times) with around 30g of protein per sitting. Eating more than 30g of protein at a time does not give any further beneficial effect. This needs to be combined with some form of exercise to have the desirable effect as highlighted by the chart.
Other presentations on the day examined the size, social & societal aspects of an ageing population, the policy decisions that need to be made at Government level to encourage early intervention and screening of elderly people to keep them in the community and research on the gut health of elderly people living in the community versus in long term residential care.
The opportunities for the food industry are in developing products that address the needs of older people for their RDA’s of protein, micronutrients, good fats & fibre. Manufacturers need to be mindful of the loss of appetite, poorer swallow ability, change in sensory perceptions particularly taste, dexterity when opening packaging and portion size as many of the elderly live in single person households. Another key point was that elderly people should not be targeted as elderly but the marketing needs to be inclusive of older people.
Source: BordBia – Bord Bia’s “Healthy Ageing” Study – Opportunities for Food Manufacturers
