Elderly Malnutrition Often Hard to Detect, AAFP President Tells New York Times

It's not always apparent when older patients are suffering from malnourishment, AAFP President Mary Frank, M.D., of Mill Valley, Calif., said in an April 12 article in The New York Times on malnutrition in the elderly. Sometimes you have to dig for that information.

"A lot of seniors are malnourished, and you don't find it out until you ask: 'Tell me what you had to eat yesterday. Tell me what you normally have,'" Frank said. "And that's when you find out that they don't cook, or they don't have money, or they can't figure out how to use the stove."

The article, "Tea and Toast and a Danger That Can be Hard to Spot," focused on the growing number of Americans age 65 and older who may be headed for disease and fragility due to poor nutrition. (To view this article requires free registration with The New York Times.)

Frank recalled an 82-year-old patient who was presumably doing well on his own after his wife died. His children visited often and always brought along food. Frank said it wasn't until the man's daughter stayed with him for a couple of days that "she realized he was eating a little bit of the food and then throwing out the rest."

The problem is becoming more common, reported the Times, citing a recent report in The American Journal of Nursing. By some estimates, said the journal study, 20 to 60 percent of elderly home-care patients are malnourished or heading in that direction.

The Times article named a variety of reasons for elderly malnutrition: low income, improper diet, difficulty digesting food and absorbing nutrients, loss of senses such as smell and taste, declining mental function, poor dental health, and simple isolation.