[Current ESPEN Guideline Clinical Nutrition and Hydration in Geriatrics]

Malnutrition, dehydration and obesity are relevant health problems with far-reaching consequences for older people. Routine screening for malnutrition and dehydration should be carried out in order to identify vulnerable and affected persons at an early stage and to be able to take timely countermeasures. In many cases, adequate nutrition and hydration can be supported by simple nursing measures and optimisation of the food and drink supply. Nutritional advice, sip feed, enteral and parenteral nutrition are further effective measures for the prevention and therapy of malnutrition. An ingestion deficiency dehydration should be diagnosed on the basis of serum osmolality and requires a rapid compensation of the deficit by hypotonic fluids - depending on the severity, in the form of drinks, subcutaneously or intravenously. Weight loss in old age should only be considered in cases of obesity with associated health problems and should be achieved by moderate energy reduction in combination with physical exercise.