Abstract

Doc number: 302

Abstract

Background: Adequate dietary intake is essential to maintain good health. This is particularly true for the elderly. This study investigated the dietary intakes of seniors residing in Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) and assessed the adequacy of nutrients which they consumed as food.

Methods: Between November 2012 and January 2013, we recruited senior residents in NL, aged 65 years or older Participants were required to complete two questionnaires, one food-frequency questionnaire (FFQ) and one general health questionnaire (GHQ). Macro- and micro- nutrients in foods consumed were estimated using the Elizabeth Stewart Hands and Associations (ESHA) nutrient analysis software. The nutrient intakes were compared with appropriate components of the dietary reference intakes (DRIs) adopted by Health Canada to determine adequacy. Various descriptive statistical analyses were performed using SPSS.

Results: One hundred-and-eleven participants (69 females and 42 males) completed the surveys and were included in the analysis. A considerable portion of subjects were overweight (41.7%) or obese (25%), and had at least one chronic illness (86.5%). Many seniors studied did not meet the daily recommendations for dietary intakes of nutrients supported by Health Canada, notably vitamin E (84.7%) and vitamin D (68.5%). Our study also suggests that about 40% of participants consumed more dietary energy as fat than is recommended.

Conclusion: The present study revealed an inadequate consumption of essential nutrients from foods in a noninstitutionalized senior population of NL.

Details

Title
A preliminary investigation into diet adequacy in senior residents of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada: a cross-sectional study
Author
Yan, Jing; Liu, Lin; Roebothan, Barbara; Ryan, Ann; Chen, Zhi; Yi, Yanqing; Wang, Peizhong
Pages
302
Publication year
2014
Publication date
2014
Publisher
BioMed Central
e-ISSN
14712458
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-14-302
ProQuest document ID
1514517061
Copyright
© 2014 Yan et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.