A dietitian adapts a nutritional plan for an elderly patient with diabetes based on her special needs caused by aging. For instance, the poor vision that typically accompanies old age can affect a patient’s nutritional status by making it hard for her to read food labels or blood glucose meter results. Also, decreased mobility commonly affects a person’s ability to buy and prepare food. And declining mental status may make it difficult for your patient to plan and prepare meals or even remember to eat (or whether she has eaten).Many older people have limited finances, so they may not purchase a wide variety of fresh foods. They often eat irregularly, skipping meals or eating on a random schedule. A declining sense of taste and poor dentition affect nutrition by making mealtimes seem less pleasurable and more trouble than they’re worth. Other elderly people may have a chronic disease, such as kidney or cardiac disease, that increases the challenge of developing a nutritional plan.

Many elderly people take several drugs at the same time, increasing the risk of food-drug and drug-drug interactions, which may affect appetite, taste, and the ability to digest, absorb, metabolize, and excrete nutrients.

Meals delivered to a patient’s home may improve mealtime regularity and food variety. But as with meals served in long-term care facilities, home-delivered meals may limit the patient’s control over food choices and meal timing. A meal plan that concentrates on eating meals at the same time every day and eating foods that provide good nutrition may be the best way to overcome the obstacles faced by elderly patients.