title: Preferences for different high-energy foods in elderly medical in-patients.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Ninewells Hospital and Medical School, Dundee, DDI 9SY United Kingdom. jrharper@doctors.org.uk
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Harper
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: McAlpine
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Hetherington
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bolton-Smith
authors.forename: M E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: McMurdo
mesh_terms: 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