Background: Nutritional supplementation might be an effective strategy for improving the nutritional status and the quality of life of institutionalized fragile elderly.
Objectives: The prevalence of malnutrition and its relation with disease, and the influence of dietary supplementation by means of oral formulas on the nutritional status of elderly nursing home residents were assessed.
Methods: Two studies were carried out, one a cross-sectional survey in 31 subjects and the other a longitudinal-sectional survey in 19 subjects, both groups living in a public nursing home in the city of Murcia (SE Spain). Body mass index (BMI), serum albumin concentration (ALB) and geriatric nutritional risk index (GNRI) were assessed as markers of potential malnutrition. Illnesses were ascertained from medical records.
Results and discussion: The prevalence of malnutrition of the total collective was high (39%), and especially in the fragile subjects (50%). The administration of oral nutritional supplements in the usual diet for 12 months significantly increased ALB and GNRI, and had no effect on body weigh and BMI. Jointly, these effects decreased the in the number of subjects at high nutritional risk and increased the number of subjects with a low or zero risk of malnutrition.
Conclusion: The administration of oral nutritional supplements in the usual diet of this elderly collective is an effective clinical strategy in nutritional therapy.