ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates the relationship between nutrition-related social support and diet quality and discusses attributes of respondent diets. Food intake determines nutritional quality of the diet, and hence nutritional status of the individual. Thus, usual food patterns were assessed using a food frequency instrument. Recommended dietary allowances for healthy females age 51 plus. The food and nutrition board that establishes the recommended dietary allowances concluded that present data is inadequate to formulate separate recommendations for an older age group. For food frequencies, respondents are particularly prone to overestimating the intakes of foods commonly eaten as well as foods with a healthy connotation. Respondents are more likely to underestimate the intakes of foods seldom eaten and foods that are considered unhealthy. In a clinically controlled trial, women with a mean age of 84 years who took supplements of calcium and vitamin D experienced fewer osteoporotic fractures than women.
