| |
| |
 |
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
SINGAPORE: Singapore may be one of the food capitals in the world, but its elderly population seems to be at high risk of malnutrition.
A survey conducted from February to March this year by Abbott, a global healthcare company, showed that only one per cent of the elderly respondents met the Health Promotion Board's Healthy Diet Pyramid recommendations.
The survey found that nearly 30 percent of elderly respondents have moderate to high nutritional risk.
Dr Chan Kin Ming, a Senior Consultant Geriatrician with Gleneagles Medical Centre, said: "If we were to look in terms of absolute numbers, we are looking at almost 300,000 older people who are at risk.
Dr Chan added that if they continue with the current state of nutrition that they're having, then it would certainly develop diseases and illnesses which would have a huge impact on the healthcare system, as all of them develop problems associated with under nutrition.
The survey also found that Body Mass Index is not a very good indicator of nutritional risk. That's because the average BMI of elderly respondents who are at low risk of malnutrition is not very different from the average BMI of those who are at high risk.
Doctors urged the elderly folks to take foods which contain calcium, carbohydrates and fibre so they're not so prone to falls and fractures.
"For example, we see that their muscles will actually strain and become more unstable and they would fall more easily, especially when they fall it would be associated with fractures and that affects their level of independence and their function.
"That would be an added problem, because that increases the healthcare cost of having to go for surgery, going to hospitals, and subsequently having to be given an extra care-giver to help to look after them at home.
"If we look at the whole data of the survey itself, we also have to know that nutrition is not just all about food alone. Nutrition is also about the whole process of eating. That includes whether a person is eating alone or eating with people, that includes whether the person is financially able to purchase the food, and that also includes whether they are able to chew, swallow, digest, and so on," said Dr Chan.
Dr Chan also pointed out that there is a need to educate the doctors, healthcare professionals whenever they come across an elderly person.
"Knowing that three in then are having this problem of being in the moderate to high risk group, that they should make it a point to asses them more specifically in order to pick up this group," he said. - CNA/fa
|
