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Antioxidant vitamins in hospitalized elderly patients: analysed dietary intakes and biochemical status
A Schmuck1, A Ravel, C Coudray
1GREPO, Université Joseph Fourier, Domaine de la Merci, La Tronche, France.
Design:
Descriptive study.
Setting:
Geriatric department of the Grenoble University Hospital.
Subjects:
24 hospitalized elderly women: 13 long-stay patients and 11 in rehabilitation after femoral neck fracture.
Main Outcome Measures:
Retinol, carotene, tocopherol and vitamin C dietary intakes were evaluated by 5-day duplicate portion analysis. Circulating levels of retinol, beta-carotene, alpha-tocopherol and vitamin C were determined in parallel (HPLC).
Results:
Mean intake of vitamin C (21 mg/d), and vitamin E (3.1 mg alpha-tocopherol equivalents TE/d) were low compared to recommendations, in relation with poor energy intake (5.27 MJ/d) and nutrient densities. More than 85% of the patients exhibited vitamin C and vitamin E intakes below two-thirds the recommendations (60 mg/d and 10 mg TE/d, respectively) and 50% did not meet recommendations for vitamin A (800 micrograms retinol equivalents/d). With the exception of retinol, dietary vitamin intakes were positively correlated to corresponding blood concentrations. No values below cut-off levels were found concerning plasma retinol, plasma tocopherol or ratio of alpha-tocopherol to cholesterol. In contrast, 26% and 32% of the elderly patients had low circulating levels of beta-carotene and vitamin C, respectively.
Conclusions:
The present study highlights low antioxidant vitamin intakes, particularly concerning vitamin E and vitamin C, and an important proportion of low blood vitamin C and beta-carotene concentrations in hospitalized elderly women. Further studies are needed to determine the actual requirements of hospitalized elderly patients and to evaluate the potential benefits of providing micronutrient-enriched foods to this population.