Chewing difficulty and dietary intake in the elderly

Dietary intake and self-assessed chewing difficulty were examined in a postal survey of a random sample of 1000 people aged 65 years and over residing in Adelaide, South Australia, by means of a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire. The response rate was 77 per cent. Fourteen per cent of the respondents reported poorly fitting dentures, and of these 35% reported difficulty in chewing. Dietary intake was largely independent of self-assessed chewing difficulty, although among women loss of chewing efficiency was associated with preference for sweet and soft foods. Dietary differences in people dissatisfied with their chewing ability appear likely to be subtle and qualitative (i.e., chopping hard foods into small pieces or cooking them for longer periods).