title: Nutrition and health of elderly people in Europe: the EURONUT-SENECA Study.
abstract: In 1988 EURONUT, the umbrella European Community (EC) Concerted Action on Nutrition and Health, initiated a major European multicenter study, named SENECA,* to study cross-cultural differences in nutritional issues and life-style factors affecting health and performance of elderly people in Europe. According to a strictly standardized methodology, 2,586 elderly subjects--born between 1913 and 1918--have been studied in 19 towns across Europe, using a mixed longitudinal design. Data regarding nutrient and food intakes, diet habits, diet awareness, nutritional status, health, and life-style factors were collected and are partially presented in this paper. There was considerable variability from site to site--even within countries--in dietary intake, in both quantity and composition; blood biochemistries; life-style factors; health; and performance. Implications of the observed wide variability will be studied longitudinally.
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Nutrition, Wageningen Agricultural University, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: L C
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: de Groot
authors.forename: J G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Hautvast
authors.forename: W A
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: van Staveren
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D003625:Data Collection; D005060:Europe; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009752:Nutritional Status; D012107:Research Design