Interventions aimed at dietary and lifestyle changes to promote healthy aging

Desirable dietary habits and other lifestyle practices reduce premature mortality and compress the period of morbidity experienced towards the end of life. Aging adults are at risk of nutritionally inadequate diets especially in relation to protein, vitamins D, B1, B6, B12, fluid and other food components. Interventions aimed at ensuring dietary adequacy also need to consider the social and cultural aspects of eating as food is fundamental to a person's well-being and quality of life. The nutrition-related health problems associated with aging such as frailty, depression, incontinence and chronic non-communicable diseases should be identified in both the individual and in the community before dietary and other health interventions are implemented. In older adults, these dietary and health promoting interventions should then focus on maximizing function and quality of life, be acceptable and finally, measurable in terms of effectiveness.