Seniors aged 65 and over who follow recommendations in Canada's new food guide may not be getting enough of certain key nutrients, warns a new study published by researchers at McGill University.
Posted at 10:09 am.
Jean-Benoit Legault The Canadian Press
Your diet may therefore not contain enough folic acid, vitamin D and calcium.
“We expect that Health Canada will issue guidelines for the population to ensure we have the most complete diet possible that meets our needs without having to resort to nutritional supplements. This is what the dietary guidelines are about. And then we find that this is not entirely the case in older people,” said the study’s author, Professor Stéphanie Chevalier.
Vitamin D and calcium play an important role in bone health. And since vitamin D is also involved in muscle health, we quickly understand how important these two nutrients are in seniors' diets.
Folic acid (or folates), in turn, is involved in the production of red blood cells (which carry oxygen in the blood) and in the formation of hemoglobin.
There were several positive aspects to Canada's new food guide, unveiled in 2019, Ms. Chevalier said, but the fact that it applied to the entire population aged two and over “worried her a little.”
“This includes children, adolescents, pregnant women and the elderly – populations that we have always known have special nutritional needs,” she said. I asked myself: Are we missing something by avoiding, shall we say, making more specific recommendations for these populations? »
So she and her postdoctoral researcher Didier Brassard studied the actual eating habits of hundreds of seniors to measure the level of adherence to the Canadian Food Guide.
They found that this adherence can lead to an increase or decrease in the intake of certain nutrients, or even make no difference.
The problem, Ms. Chevalier said, is that it is often difficult for seniors to get enough nutrients like calcium or vitamin D anyway.
“And it doesn’t help them adhere to the Canadian Food Guide even more,” she added. We were very surprised. »
But the news isn't all bad. The study authors found that seniors who adhere to the Canadian Dietary Guide are less likely than others to not consume enough magnesium, vitamin B6 and protein.
However, seniors should keep in mind that they need a little more protein than recommended in the guide and try to consume it with every meal, regardless of whether the protein is of animal or plant origin.
Health Canada has put additional resources online in recent years, such as guidelines for seniors. However, the information is not necessarily easy to find and is often aimed at healthcare professionals or even facility managers – although many seniors find information on the Internet.
Seniors don't always have the control over their diet that they would like. Those who live at home often have to put up with the menu on offer. Those who live at home, suffer from loneliness, or lose their autonomy may have a reduced ability to obtain the foods they desire.
As we get older, there is often a loss of appetite.
“Because it's calcium and vitamin D, I would recommend dairy,” Ms. Chevalier said. I'm thinking, among other things, of Greek yogurt. This is a food that I often recommend to older people who have a smaller appetite. A small cup of Greek yogurt contains plenty of calcium and is also a good source of protein. »
Folate is found in green vegetables and a vitamin D deficiency can be corrected with a doctor-prescribed supplement.
Researchers will now examine how adherence to current guidelines affects health outcomes such as physical function, mobility and cognition and how guidelines can be changed to improve these outcomes.
The results of this study were published in the Journal of Nutrition.