ABSTRACT
The nutritional status of older adults living at home is poor. On average, persons over the age of 70 years consume one third less calories than younger persons. Energy intakes of older men (40 to 74 years old) range from 2100 to 2300 calories/day compared to younger men (24 to 34 years old), who consume 2700 calories/day.1 Ten percent of older men and twenty percent of older women have intakes of protein below the U.S. Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA), and one third consume fewer calories than the RDA. Fifty percent of older adults have intakes of minerals and vitamins less than the RDA, and ten to thirty percent have subnormal levels of minerals and vitamins.2 Sixteen to eighteen percent of community-dwelling elderly persons consume less than 1000 kcal daily.3
