ANTIOXIDANT VITAMINS IN HOSPITALIZED ELDERLY PATIENTS - ANALYZED DIETARY INTAKES AND BIOCHEMICAL STATUS

Design: Descriptive study. Setting: Geriatric department of the Grenob le University Hospital. Subjects: 24 hospitalized elderly women: 13 lo ng-stay patients and 11 in rehabilitation after femoral neck fracture. Main outcome measures: Retinol, carotene, tocopherol and vitamin C di etary intakes were evaluated by 5-day duplicate portion analysis. Circ ulating levels of retinol, beta-carotene, alpha-tocopherol and vitamin C were determined in parallel (HPLC). Results: Mean intake of vitamin C (21 mg/d), and vitamin E (3.1 mg alpha-tocopherol equivalents TE/d) were low compared to recommendations, in relation with poor energy in take (5.27 MJ/d) and nutrient densities. More than 85% of the patients exhibited vitamin C and vitamin E intakes below two-thirds the recomm endations (60 mg/d and 10 mg TE/d, respectively) and 50% did not meet recommendations for vitamin A (800 mu g retinol equivalents/d). With t he exception of retinol, dietary vitamin intakes were positively corre lated to corresponding blood concentrations. No values below cut-off l evels were found concerning plasma retinol, plasma tocopherol or ratio of alpha-tocopherol to cholesterol. In contrast, 26% and 32% of the e lderly patients had low circulating levels of beta-carotene and vitami n C, respectively. Conclusions: The present study highlights low antio xidant vitamin intakes, particularly concerning vitamin E and vitamin C, and an important proportion of low blood vitamin C and beta-caroten e concentrations in hospitalized elderly women. Further studies are ne eded to determine the actual requirements of hospitalized elderly pati ents and to evaluate the potential benefits of providing micronutrient -enriched foods to this population.