Preferences for different high-energy foods in elderly medical in-patients.
Malnourishment is a common finding in hospitalised elderly patients. It is often addressed by the provision of nutritional supplements, in the form of sip-feeds. Patients' intake of these is frequently inadequate. We assessed the palatability of sip-feed nutritional supplements and other high-energy foods to elderly medical in-patients. Using the Lickhert Scale, 49 subjects rated the taste of a previously selected sip-feed supplement and five other high-energy foods, cheese biscuit, plain potato crisps, chocolate, cherry-flavoured cereal bar and stout beer. Subjects rated the taste of sip-feeds as favourably as all other offered foods, with the exception of the lower rated stout beer (p = 0.0001). Taste alone is unlikely to account for the poor intake of sip-feed nutritional supplements by elderly hospital patients.
Harper
J R
JR
Department of Medicine, Ninewells Hospital and Medical School, Dundee, DDI 9SY United Kingdom. jrharper@doctors.org.uk
McAlpine
S
S
Hetherington
M M
MM
Bolton-Smith
C
C
McMurdo
M E
ME
D000368:Aged; D019587:Dietary Supplements; D005260:Female; D005518:Food Preferences; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients; D008297:Male; D009748:Nutrition Disorders / Q000178:diet therapy*; D009752:Nutritional Status; D013649:Taste