The Change In Your Eating Habits With Age

With age, the physiological responses to occasional or regular stressors from a broad range of functions tend to change and adjust at a different pace, restoring these functions in the normal healthy range becomes increasingly challenging.

- Sadhvika Srinivas

Even if this natural decline is somehow unavoidable, opportunities exist to slow down and mitigate the impact of advancing age on major physiological processes, which, when weakened, constitute the hallmarks of ageing.

Nutrition is a modifiable factor affecting the quality of life and independence of older people. The physiological, psychological and social changes during ageing affect their dietary choices. The physiological, psychological and social changes during ageing affect the dietary choices of older people.

The loss of skeletal muscle mass and the concomitant increase in body fat mass that occur with ageing are accompanied by weakness, low physical activity and a lower resting metabolic rate. Moreover, the natural loss of taste and smell may lead to decreased appetite and poor dietary habits. Age-related diseases and polypharmacy often interfere with the ingestion, absorption and metabolism of food; in addition, dental conditions influence the dietary habits of older adults and potentially further compromise their nutritional status.