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Why do many older adults eat less than the recommended amount of protein?
Ready meals can help
increase protein intake in the elderly
ow protein intake is as-
Katherine Appleton, lead researcher in a
sociated with an increased
Bournemouth University study.
“Our findings have a number of implications for intervention strategies. Taste was
risk of falls and fractures, a
“We surveyed older adults living in the
an important factor, so that suggests that
weaker immune system and
community and found that people were
we should be considering the use of flavour-
a higher risk of infection. So
most likely to eat different types of animal
ings and promoting appetising recipes or
in fact, older adults should
protein if they were tasty, affordable and
taster sessions. We also found that people
be increasing their protein intake to modify
convenient to buy and prepare. As people
took into account the healthiness of foods
these risks and recent research has found a
age they may face problems with eating
when picking what to buy and eat, so better
place for ready meals in improving protein
and digesting some foods, which affects
information and education may also change
consumption in older people.
what they choose to buy and eat, but un-
people’s decisions.
“Eating enough protein is important for
like other studies, we found that this wasn’t
“Cost and ease of preparation also
our health as we age, but many older people
necessarily the most important factor when
emerged as factors in our study. This sug-
don’t consume enough. Options such as tak-
choosing the foods we were interested in.
gests that the promotion of pre-prepared or
ing protein supplements or having fortified
“We found that people were also likely
pre-cooked foods may make a difference to
foods are often unpopular, so we chose to
to select food that they perceived to be
protein consumption, as might education
focus our research on foods that are natu-
healthy. These reasons all have implica-
around the promotion of cheaper sources
rally high in protein. We wanted to find out
tions for the kinds of interventions that
of protein. This could be as simple as pro-
how often people were eating animal-based
are likely to be successful in persuading
moting recipes or demonstrations explaining
proteins, such as meat, fish, eggs or dairy,
older people to eat more protein,” con-
how to reduce waste and use all of the
and why they appeal,” explained Professor
tinued Dr Appleton.
food we buy.”
32 | PREPARED FOOD - February 2017
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