Associations Between Various Geriatric Syndromes and Nutrition Status and Dietary Pattern in Elderly

Recent interventional studies have shown that frailty can be improved by modifying dietary quality. In this study, a set of nutrition-centric health promotion activities was developed in accordance with the Taiwanese Daily Food Guide for elderly participants of the community centers to improve their nutrition in everyday practice and examined the efficacy of these activities on slowing down the development or regression of frailty. The study was a cluster-randomized controlled trial. Recruited community centers were randomly assigned into either the control or the intervention group. The intervention period lasted for 3 months. Both the control and intervention groups received weekly one-hour group exercise training. The intervention group had an additional weekly one-hour group nutrition session. The intervention programs included: (a) training on-site staffs to use motivational interview techniques to communicate, to estimate participant's energy requirements, and to learn how to provide proper amounts of foods to individual elderlies, (b) nutrition grouped activities on ①know my plate, ②wholegrains, ③drinking teas with dairy, and nuts, ④novel ways to eat fruit and vegetables, ⑤healthy breakfast ideas. In the first month, participants were intervened with the activities laid out above; in the second month, participants were intervened with qualitative discussions on dietary changes; in the third month, participants were intervened with designed activities that helped break down barriers in order to establish a long-term change in dietary habits. Improvement in nutritional status was the primary outcome. Secondary outcomes included frailty scores, physical performance, and mental health. The measurements were performed at baseline, 3 months, and 6 months.