Abstract
Human aging may be defined as a complex interaction between an individual and the environment over time. In relation to external variables that affect aging, perhaps none is more important than nutrition. Evidence obtained from animal studies has shown that life expectancy can be significantly extended by restricting food intake. Nutritional factors have been shown to contribute substantively to many diseases that occur in late life. With advancing age, the risk of developing serious nutritional deficiencies also increases because of age-related reductions in total food intakes combined with the presence of debilitating disease. The presence of malnutrition increases functional dependency, morbidity, mortality and use of health care resources. This chapter discusses the relevance of these findings and describes rational approaches to the diagnosis and management of nutritional problems in the elderly.
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© 1997 Springer Science+Business Media New York
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Lipschitz, D.A. (1997). Nutrition. In: Cassel, C.K., et al. Geriatric Medicine. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-2705-0_52
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-2705-0_52
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