Voeding en gezondheid - vitaminevoorziening en vitaliteit van ouderen

- The increasing number of elderly people above 65 years of age is extremely heterogeneous with regard to sickness and health. As a result, the nutritional needs and food consumption also vary.

- ‘Anorexia of aging’, leading to nutritional deficiencies, is a common syndrome in the elderly people and may be either caused by or result in loss of functions and accelerated aging.

- Early detection of malnutrition and intervention with supplements or an adequate diet should stop the negative health spiral.

- A limited number of intervention trials, including Dutch ones, have demonstrated a positive effect on the nutritional and immune status.

- However, the improvement in physical and mental functions as a result of supplementation is less clear.

- The results of larger current trials on the effect of supplementation with, for example, vitamin D, folic acid, vitamin B₁₂ and complete enriched products will provide more clarity in the future on the necessity of supplementation for elderly people.