Food intakes and habits of rural elderly Malays

A cross-sectional nutritional survey was carried out on 350 elderly Malays aged 60 and above from 11 randomly selected villages in a rural area on the east coast of Malaysia. The findings indicated that the mean intakes of energy and of all of the nutrients investigated were below the Malaysian Recommended Dietary Allowances, except for protein and vitamin C. With respect to dietary habits, almost all of the subjects reported that they had breakfast (99.3%), lunch (97.9%) and dinner (90.4%) daily or almost daily (5-6 times/week). However, approximately half of the subjects, especially women, had particular beliefs and prohibitions about specific foods. Most of the subjects usually ate their meals at home, particularly dinner, with 99.3% always having dinner in their own home. Thus, although the rural elderly Malays studied had regular meal intakes, the dietary intake was inadequate. There is a need to plan community-based intervention programmes in order to prevent the subsequent consequences of malnutrition that lead to increased morbidity and mortality.