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Chapter 8 - Old Age and Nutrition

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 August 2023

By
Ivan Aprahamian ,
Andréia de Oliveira Pain  and
Sandra Maria Lima Ribeiro
Edited by
Ted Dinan
Ted Dinan
Affiliation:
Emeritus Professor, University College Cork, Ireland
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Summary

Psychogeriatric patients commonly present nutritional disorders due to a higher burden of multimorbidity, polypharmacy or psychopathology. Different nutritional disorders are associated with geriatric syndromes and adverse health outcomes in these patients. Epidemiological and clinical evidence justify a basic nutritional assessment for malnutrition in older mental health patients, given that mental and physical components are rarely unrelated. However, several professionals that care for older mental health patients do not have a nutritional training background. Beyond nutritional evaluation, diet counselling and supplement recommendation may be even harder for non-specialists. In this chapter, we suggest a quick, simple and basic nutritional assessment, we evaluate the literature on the relationship between anthropometric and nutritional measurement and mental disorders in older adults, and we review the best evidence regarding nutritional management for these patients. Additionally, we review potential biological pathways of the association between nutrition and late-life mental illness.

Type
Chapter
Information
Nutritional Psychiatry
A Primer for Clinicians
 , pp. 134 - 151
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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