NUTRITIONAL-STATUS OF ELDERLY FEMALE NURSING-HOME RESIDENTS - THE EFFECT OF SUPPLEMENTATION WITH A PHYSIOLOGICAL DOSE OF WATER-SOLUBLE VITAMINS

Objective: To assess the nutritional status of female elderly nursing home residents and to study the effect of dietary supplementation with a physiological dose of water-soluble vitamins. Design: Single-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled intervention trial. Daily consumed sup plement consisted of fortified fruit juice containing 50 g carbohydrat e and 50% of the daily dietary recommendations of water-soluble vitami ns. Regular fruit juice was used as placebo. Dietary intake assessment at baseline. Fasting blood sample, anthropometric measurements and me dical record at baseline and after 4 and 12 weeks of supplementation. Setting: Three nursing homes within 40km of the coordination centre (D epartment of Human Nutrition, Wageningen Agricultural University, the Netherlands). Subjects: Forty-two female nursing home residents aged 6 0 years and older, in relatively stable health condition, at least 3 m onths resident at baseline. In each nursing home, 14 subjects were ran domly assigned to the supplement or control group. Interventions: Twel ve weeks of supplementation. Results: Participants had a poor nutritio nal status. Dietary supplementation significantly improved the concent rations of thiamin pyrophosphate and pyridoxal 5'-phosphate, increased body weight and decreased serum homocysteine concentration in the sup plement group. Plasma vitamin C levels were significantly increased in both supplement and control group. Conclusions: Even in this heteroge neous population of female nursing home elderly it is possible to impr ove the nutritional status through dietary intervention with a physiol ogical dose of water-soluble vitamins.