Activity, dietary intake, and anthropometry of an informal social group ofThai elderly in Bangkok

Socio-demographic, anthropometric assessment, dietary pattern, lifestyle of 384 Thai elderly (55 males and 329 females) aged 60-94 years, who were mem bers of an informal social activity group, were investigated. The 3-day die tary record was determined with the help of food models by random sampling of the group (seven males and 25 females). Most of the males investigated w ere married (88.9%), whereas 42.9% of the females were widowed. Nearly all of the elderly investigated lived with their relatives. Only 3% of the elde rly had never attended school. More elderly males than females smoked or ha d smoked in the past, and this applies also to their drinking habits. The h ealth situation of the individuals investigated seemed to be satisfactory. The most frequent diseases found among the elderly were chronic diseases, s uch as hypertension, hyperlipidemia and diabetes mellitus. No statistically significant difference in body mass index (BMI), arm circumference (AC), a nd hip circumference was found between males and females. Weight, height, m id-arm muscle circumference (MAMC). arm span, waist, waist:hip ratio and bl ood pressure of the males were significantly higher than those of the femal es. Tricep skin-fold thickness (TSF) and subscapular skin-fold thickness (S ST) were lower for males than for females. A total of 54.5%;, of the males and 50.5%, of the females were found to be over-nourished. Less than 2%:, o f all the individuals investigated were undernourished. No significant diff erences were observed for all nutrients between the males and females. Inta ke of dietary energy from food for males and females was 69.8 and 75.5%, re spectively, compared with the Thai RDA. When calculating the intake of macr o-nutrients as percentage of total calorie intake, about 17% of the total c alorie intake was attributed to fat, 13%, to protein and 70% to carbohydrat e for the males. For the females, the figures were 17, 15, and 68%. respect ively. intake of calcium, phosphorus, vitamin B1, B1 and niacin seem to be inadequate for both sexes. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All right s reserved.