Nutrition Screening Initiative and the Louisiana Food for Seniors experience

The Nutrition Screening Initiative (NSI), an interdisciplinary agency, has developed three levels of nutritional screening for the elderly. Nutritionists from the Office of Public Health and the Orleans Parish Nutrition Commodity Service screened 104 Commodity Supplemental Food Program--Food for Seniors (CSFP) participants utilizing the NSI's checklist. Anthropometric measures were also obtained and the Body Mass Index (BMI), a measure of total body fat, was calculated. Eighty percent of the participants were at moderate or high nutritional risk. Fifty percent of the obese participants (BMI > 30) were at high nutritional risk; whereas 83% of underweight participants (BMI < 21) were at high nutritional risk. Results suggest the need for further evaluation and nutritional intervention among low-income seniors.