Nutritional situation of the elderly in Eastern/Baltic and Central/Western Europe - the AgeingNutrition project.
OBJECTIVE
In the AgeingNutrition project, funded by the European Commission, partners from 10 'Eastern/Baltic' (new) European (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, and Turkey) and 5 'Central/Western' (old) European countries (Austria, Belgium, Germany, Greece, and Spain) performed a comparative analysis of existing data on nutritional status, food intake, nutrient intake, dietary habits and lifestyle of the aging population in Europe.


METHODS
Using predefined inclusion criteria, 36 studies (22 from Eastern/Baltic, 14 from Central/Western countries) were chosen for evaluation. The studies varied in general design, data assessment and parameters and methods applied (especially regarding assessment of nutritional situation, comprising anthropometry, blood lipid profile, dietary nutrient and food intake). Thus, data evaluation by recalculation of raw data had to be restricted to a few distinct, common parameters.


CONCLUSIONS
Energy intake is too high in both regions, especially in some of the 'younger old' and seems not to be adjusted to energy expenditure. Simultaneously, energy intake was considerably lower than recommended in some very old seniors in Eastern/Baltic countries. Interestingly, quantity and quality of available information is similar in 'new' and 'old' member states. Immense variations in methodology hampered performing reliable comparative evaluation. It is, thus, mandatory to standardize methods for assessment of nutrition and health status for future international multicenter studies.
Lesser
Stephanie
S
IEL - Nutritional Physiology, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
Pauly
Lioba
L
Volkert
Dorothee
D
Stehle
Peter
P
D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015992:Body Mass Index; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D002149:Energy Intake / Q000502:physiology*; D005060:Europe; D005061:Europe, Eastern; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D008055:Lipids / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D015201:Meta-Analysis as Topic; D008875:Middle Aged; D015596:Nutrition Assessment; D009752:Nutritional Status
D008055:Lipids