Older adults need guidance to meet nutritional recommendations

Objective: The purpose of this study was to compare the diet of healthy, fr ee-living senior volunteers to the dietary reference intakes (DRIs) and Foo d Guide Pyramid recommendations. Methods: This study was a cross-sectional assessment of dietary habits, as measured using a standardized food frequency questionnaire, among 1740 heal thy Southwestern U.S. adults, aged 51 to 85 years. Assessment of independen tly-living volunteers to chemoprevention trials provides an efficient mecha nism to profile typical dietary habits among the older adult population. Results: Daily estimated macronutrient intakes exceeded recommended proport ions of protein and fat. In contrast, more than 60% of this senior populati on reported dietary vitamin D, vitamin E, folate and calcium intakes below estimated average requirements (EAR). Based on the Food Guide Pyramid recom mendations, fewer than 10% of the older adults consumed the recommended dai ly dairy and grain servings. More females than males consumed recommended v egetable (49% versus 40%) and fruit (53% versus 48%) servings (p < 0.05). M ore males consumed recommended grain(11% versus 7%) and protein (78% versus 73%) servings (p < 0.05) than females. Conclusions: Mean micronutrient intakes compared well with DRIs, although f ewer than one-half of these older adults consumed recommended levels for vi tamin D, vitamin E, folate, and calcium or daily food servings of dairy, gr ains, vegetables or fruits. Since the beneficial aspects of foods are not l imited to essential nutrients, nutrition recommendations to older adults ma y be improved by emphasizing daily servings of nutrient-dense choices withi n the Food Pyramid.