Risk of malnutrition in the elderly
The most important thing leading to malnutrition in the elderly is poor quality food, even not enough meals, some days full, some days hungry.
Malnutrition is an imbalance between the food consumed and the energy needs of each human body and is mainly found in children and the elderly. Malnutrition in the elderly can be overcome if detected early and the right nutritional methods are applied.
A body is said to be malnourished when its weight loses 5 - 10% over a period of 6 months to 1 year (not including diseases that cause rapid weight loss such as diabetes, use of weight loss drugs, diuretics, etc.).
Factors that cause malnutrition in the elderly
The most important thing leading to malnutrition in the elderly is poor quality food, even not enough meals, sometimes full, sometimes hungry. Some elderly people lack economic resources or have economic capacity but no one takes care of their daily meals, the situation continues to lead to malnutrition.
Some elderly people are malnourished due to chronic diseases such as poor dental system (loose or fallen teeth) causing difficulty in chewing food. Some diseases are also very common in the elderly due to impaired physiological function such as fibrosis of the salivary glands reducing the ability to secrete saliva. If there is a lack of saliva, the elderly will have less appetite or no appetite during meals, thus causing prolonged anorexia leading to malnutrition. Or due to impaired physiological function of the senses, especially taste and smell, reducing the stimulation of appetite.
Malnutrition in the elderly can also occur in some cases of allergies to certain foods, so the elderly are afraid to eat because they are worried that after eating they will have digestive disorders such as nausea, vomiting or diarrhea, abdominal pain. Some digestive diseases also play an important role in malnutrition in the elderly, especially diseases of the stomach and colon. Some mental illnesses such as chronic depression and dementia also greatly affect digestion and therefore easily lead to malnutrition.
Among the causes of malnutrition in the elderly, alcoholism is also a significant cause. Alcoholics have a very poor appetite and do not even want to eat any food other than alcohol. In addition to poor appetite, alcoholism also causes liver function to decline. This is a vicious cycle: alcoholism causes poor appetite, which causes impaired liver function; impaired liver function leads to even more poor appetite, resulting in malnutrition and, further, alcoholic cirrhosis. Some cases of malnutrition in the elderly are due to excessive abstinence, not daring to eat any food, even fish, a food that is essential for nutritional needs at all ages, they abstain from eating and drinking.
Expression
Most people with malnutrition can detect themselves losing weight, such as losing weight, their clothes suddenly becoming loose, and their muscles feeling soft and flabby, not as firm as before. However, for some elderly people, malnutrition for a long time has affected the central nervous system, so the person himself cannot or does not know what disease he has. In this case, family members can also recognize it, such as feeling less alert, forgetful, complaining of fatigue, loss of appetite, loss of appetite, or being irritable for no reason.
Malnutrition in the elderly such as indigestion, constipation, loose and sometimes solid stools, or occasional abdominal pain. If the elderly have other chronic diseases such as asthma, heart disease, hepatitis, bone and joint diseases, these diseases increase more rapidly and the general condition becomes more susceptible to deterioration, and especially when there is an infectious agent, it is very difficult to avoid getting sick.
Some preventive measures
Eating enough nutrients and quantity is a necessary source of energy for every elderly person. It is necessary to calculate how to ensure that the elderly have meals on time, with the necessary quantity and quality. In addition, if the elderly cannot take care of themselves, someone needs to help take care of their daily meals. These are very basic things and perhaps the core issue to help the elderly escape malnutrition.
It is also necessary to encourage and remind the elderly to eat hard and eat enough to avoid anorexia, laziness, and skipping meals. The attention and encouragement of other family members is extremely important, especially finding out the reasons why the elderly are malnourished, and on that basis finding ways to gradually overcome them. If the elderly do not eat enough main meals, it is possible to create conditions for them to eat extra meals around 9am and around 3pm. They should eat more fruits after meals (dessert) such as oranges, tangerines, bananas, grapefruits, etc. and should eat a lot of vegetables. Vegetables provide vitamins and fiber to prevent constipation, etc.
To avoid anorexia and loss of appetite, if you do not have heart, stomach, or colon diseases and have the financial means, you can drink a glass of red wine before eating as an appetizer (stimulates appetite). The focus of preventing malnutrition is how the elderly can eat and digest, so food must be soft, easy to chew, and easy to swallow, but should not be pureed because it will reduce the usual taste of the food.
However, the elderly should also limit their intake of animal fat, egg yolks (chicken, duck, quail, goose) or offal such as liver, heart, intestines, kidneys and should eat fish instead of meat. They should eat fish about 2-3 times a week in main meals; vegetable proteins should also be eaten in between main meals such as tofu and other beans.
Daily physical activity to circulate blood and make the body's organs work smoothly, thereby having a good appetite and good absorption also needs to be paid close attention. There are many forms of physical activity depending on the circumstances and conditions of each person, so applying them appropriately and being able to do it regularly in different circumstances is the important thing./.
According to VOV - NT
