The high incidence of malnutrition among older adults has led to calls for national dietary guidelines for those at risk.
This follows data that as many as one in two older people may have an insufficient diet and that 68% of people in aged care are malnourished or at risk of malnutrition. The issue was addressed on the ABC programme, Maggie Beer’s great mission.
Karly Bartrim, Aged Care Interest Group Coordinator at Dietitians Australia, he told ABC that there is currently no mandatory screening for malnutrition in aged care.
“Malnutrition is very prevalent in aged care, but dietitians only get involved when there is weight loss, which is often a flow-on effect,” she said.
“If we were included earlier we could prevent this weight loss from occurring.”
Dietitians Australia notes that malnutrition is known to:
- They have negative impacts on mortality rates.
Judi Porter, professor of dietetics at Deakin University, said symptoms of malnutrition are sometimes mistaken for “normal” signs of aging.
He said people with dementia were particularly at risk and it was difficult to tell whether they had eaten.
“If a family member asks you what you had for lunch, you might just say, ‘A sandwich’ because you’ve had a sandwich for the last 80 years but maybe you haven’t actually eaten the sandwich,” he told ABC.
