Developing and Testing Delicious and Nutritious for the Old People

Developing and Testing Delicious and Nutritious for the Old People

Meals-on wheels may play a major role in contributing to better nourishment and quality of life in older people, thus delaying costly hospitalisation. Still, dwelling, old adults who receive meals-on-wheels are a population at risk of undernutrition leading to a decreased quality of life.

Hypothesis Offering nutritious ELDORADO meals as meals-on-wheels to nursing home residents in 3 months is an effective way to increase quality of life.

Aim To improve quality of life and functional abilities in nursing home residents by offering nutritious ELDORADO meals.

Intervention The intervention group (n=50) will receive an optimized menu (in both sensory and nutritious aspects) for 12 weeks. In cooperation with the Copenhagen house of food and sensory staff, 19 main meals and 12 between-meals have been optimized based on nursing home residents' evaluations of sensory aspects. On a daily basis the menu will consist of 1 optimized main meal and 1 optimized between-meal, served for dinner. There will be no selective choice for the elderly. If a participant does not want the daily meal, he will receive another meal from the ordinary menu from the kitchen.

Control In comparison, the control group (n=50) will receive the same menu as the intervention group, however, the meals are not optimized on sensory and nutritious aspects. On a daily basis this menu also includes 1 main meal and 1 between-meal in 12 weeks. If a participant does not want the daily meal, he will receive another meal from the ordinary menu from the kitchen.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Living at Skovhuset, nursing home in Hillerød municipality, Denmark.
• Collecting the "energy-dense diet" "ældrekost" with 40 % fat, with a main meal and a dessert/starter.
• Able to understand and follow instructions for the procedures of the study.
• Above 65 years.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Have chewing or swallowing difficulties.
• Have acute disease or acute change in chronic disease.
• Living after special nutritional standards e.g. vegetarian, have any food allergies, or if a participant is excluding common foods from their diet because of other reasons.
• Not able or willing to give informed consent.