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Nutrition

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Geriatric Medicine

Abstract

As the number of older adults in the United States and industrialized world increases along with increasing health care expenditures, the need for guidance on health promotion and maintenance for these individuals also grows. While promotion of good nutrition, exercise, and healthy habits is routinely advanced, there is a considerable gap between empiric advice and the scientific data to support specific recommendations. More research is needed to define the needs of elderly persons at different decades of life. The impact of chronic illness, medications, and alterations in functional ability on nutritional needs, nutritional status, and dietary prescriptions is not clearly defined in the older individual. Among healthy elderly individuals, the variation in dietary needs and nutritional status as a function of the type and degree of physical exercise needs clarification. Furthermore, such research must delineate clinical approaches to nutritional problems in elders as a function of the setting in which they primarily are seen for medical evaluation. For example, studies are needed of elders in long-term care facilities that not only stratify them according to level of care and activity, but also examine the effects of intercurrent illness and dietary intake on nutrient needs and clinical outcomes.

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Authors
  1. Cynthia T. Henderson
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Section of General Internal Medicine, The University of Chicago Medical Center, 60637, Chicago, Illinois, USA

    Christine K. Cassel M.D. (Chief) (Chief)

  2. Journal of the American Medical Association, 60610, Chicago, Illinois, USA

    Donald E. Riesenberg M.D. (Senior Editor, Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine) (Senior Editor, Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine)

  3. Pritzker School of Medicine, University of Chicago, 60637, Chicago, Illinois, USA

    Donald E. Riesenberg M.D. (Senior Editor, Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine) (Senior Editor, Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine)

  4. Department of Medicine, Pritzker School of Medicine, University of Chicago, 60637, Chicago, Illinois, USA

    Leif B. Sorensen M.D., Ph.D. (Associate Chief) (Associate Chief)

  5. Geriatric Medicine, Portland V.A. Medical Center, 97207, Portland, Oregon, USA

    John R. Walsh M.D. (Chief) (Chief)

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© 1990 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Henderson, C.T. (1990). Nutrition. In: Cassel, C.K., Riesenberg, D.E., Sorensen, L.B., Walsh, J.R. (eds) Geriatric Medicine. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-2093-8_41

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-2093-8_41

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4757-2095-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4757-2093-8

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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