Introduction: Nutritional deficiencies of micronutrients in elderly people are frequent, and therefore this constitutes a main aspect in the maintenance and the restoration of health and well-being.
Aim: The anthropometric assessment of a population of elderly people and the estimation of the dietetic intake of vitamins.
Material and methods: The sample of the survey was composed of 124 elderly persons (60 males and 64 females), aged between 65 and 98, who were living in five institutions for old people in the province of Leon. An anthropometric assessment was made as well as a record of food intake throughout 7 days determined by "the precise weighting method". The contents in vitamin were calculated from the Spanish Food Composition Tables and they were compared to the dietetic recommendations for Spanish population older than 65 years old.
Results: The Body Mass Index (BMI) was similar in men (27.5 +/- 4.2 kg/m2) and in women (28.1 +/- 5.9 kg/m2) with no significant differences between them, although there is a high prevalence of obesity (BMI > 30 kg/m2) in the studied population, both in females (41%) and in males (28%). Regarding the vitamin intake, the mean dietetic content of thiamine, niacin and vitamin C supplies the 100% of the recommended intake of the population in study in both sexes. However, in the case of folic acid, vitamin A, riboflavin and vitamin B12, despite the mean intake supplies the recommendations, there are important percentages of population who have an inadequate intake. As regards the rest of the vitamins (vitamin B6, vitamin D and vitamin E), the situation in very unsuitable because almost the whole sample shows lower amount of intakes than the recommended values (93.5% vs 67.8% for vitamin B6, 84.5% vs 84.6% for vitamin D, and 88.3% vs 92.2% for vitamin E, for men and women, respectively).