26 Healthy Eating
but 10 to 30 percent in Swiss towns eating regularly at restaurants and
30 percent of the elderly in Greece and Poland regularly eating in the homes
of their children. Further, they could be classified according to the use of
specific diets, with a large number following low-salt diets or a diet
prescribed by the doctor (Schlettwein-Gsell et al., 1991). As to whether
the participants had a healthy diet, the results showed that the majority
of the sample were healthy in terms of the prevalence of anemia and blood
albumin (as a marker for nutritional status) (Dirren et al., 1991) and blood
lipid levels (Kafatos et al., 1991). In terms of energy intakes, the data
indicated that women in seven countries had energy intakes lower than
required, but that the majority were consuming the correct amount of
protein. For levels of fat and carbohydrate intake, the results showed that
southern Europe was healthier than northern Europe, but that in terms of
alcohol and vitamin A, northern European countries were healthier than
those in the south (Schlettwein-Gsell et al., 1991). Overall, 19 percent of
men and 26 percent of women had an inadequate nutrient intake (de Groot
and van Staveren, 2000). These baseline data therefore indicated that
the diet of the majority of this elderly population was satisfactory but that
both gender and geographical differences existed which the authors argued
could provide a basis for identifying risk profiles for future interventions
(de Groot, van Staveren, and Hautvast, 1991). At the 5-year follow-up, the
data were analyzed to explore the predictors of survival. The results for
Danish and Greek cohorts suggested that an increased probability of
survival was related to the consumption of a traditional Mediterranean diet
rich in cereals, vegetables, fruit, lean meat, and olive oil (Trichopoulou et al.,
1995; Osler and Schroll, 1997).
In another study of the elderly, the National Diet and Nutrition Survey
examined the eating habits of nearly 2,000 men and women aged over
65 years in the UK (Bates, Prentice, and Finch, 1999). The results showed
that nutrient intakes were generally satisfactory but that this population
showed deficient intakes of vitamin D, magnesium, potassium, and copper.
These deficiencies were greater for the older elderly, those living in insti-
tutions, those of lower social class, and those who lived in the northern
regions of the UK. In terms of gender differences the results showed that
women ate more butter, full-fat milk, cakes, apples, pears, and bananas,
while the men consumed more eggs, sugar, certain meat products, beer,
and lager. The authors concluded that there were no overall differences
between men and women in terms of the healthiness of their diets, as men
had better diets in some respects and women in others.