Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Nutrition Policy: Developing Scientific Recommendations For Food-Based Dietary Guidelines For Older Adults Living Independently In Ireland, Oonagh C. Lyons, Mary A.T. Flynn, Clare A. Corish, Eileen R. Gibney, Maeve A. Kerr, Malachi J. Mckenna, Helene Mcnulty, Emeir M. Mcsorley, Anne P. Nugent, Claire O'Brien, Mary Ward, Katherine Younger, Ita Saul

Conference Papers

Older adults (≥65 years) are the fastest growing population group. Thus, ensuring nutritional well-being of the ‘over-65s’ to optimise health is critically important. Older adults represent a diverse population – some are fit and healthy, others are frail and many live with chronic conditions. Up to 78% of older Irish adults living independently are overweight or obese. The present paper describes how these issues were accommodated into the development of food-based dietary guidelines for older adults living independently in Ireland. Food-based dietary guidelines previously established for the general adult population served as the basis for developing more specific recommendations appropriate …