Older Australians unaware of dietary nutritional targets

Older Australians may be at risk of some chronic diseases because they are unaware of age-adjusted nutritional targets, according to research from Southern Cross University.

Dr Sonya Brownie and Dr Rosanne Coutts, of SCU’s School of Health and Human Sciences, explored the perceptions and practices of older independently-living Australians about what constitutes a healthy diet for older people. The researchers interviewed 29 participants across five focus groups. Their research has been published in The Journal of Nutrition, Health and Aging.

“The Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) has established a set of nutrient reference values for the Australian population,” Dr Brownie said.

“These include specific nutrient recommendations for two categories of older individuals; 51-70 and 70 plus. These age-adjusted targets represent 20 to 30 per cent increases in the requirement for protein, calcium, Vitamin B2 and Vitamin B6 for older Australians.

“Older Australians are encouraged to consume a wide variety of nutritious foods and aim for two servings of fruit, five servings of vegetables, four servings of milk, two servings of meat and four servings of cereals each day.”

The research showed that many older Australians were unaware of the recommended increases for certain foods in their diet, and actually reduced their dietary intake of some of these important food groups. Some even believed that cutting down certain foods such as meat and fat was beneficial to health in old age.

“In general, red meat was not viewed as being central to what constitutes a healthy diet in this small sample of participants,” Dr Brownie said.

“In fact, many viewed fish as being healthier to red meat and were aiming to incorporate fish into their diet on a regular basis. Surprisingly, there was ambivalence about the importance of dairy products in many women participants.”

According to the researchers, the study found that the participants believed in the value of fresh healthy food and when supplemented with dairy, cereals and some meat, formed the basis of a healthy diet for older people.

“However, despite their good intention, we concluded that older people might benefit from a targeted media campaign to raise awareness about the importance of age-adjusted nutrient targets for wellbeing,” Dr Brownie said.

Photo: Dr Rosanne Coutts, left, and Dr Sonya Brownie.