Nutrition Considerations for the Growing Population of Older Adults With Diabetes.

The growing older adult population and its higher incidence of diabetes are creating demands on health care providers to address the special needs of these patients. Because nutrition is essential to the proper treatment and self-management of diabetes, clinicians must develop and adopt various strategies to address some of the common nutritional, lifestyle, and self-management barriers that older adults face. Nutrition assessments of older adults with diabetes should be comprehensive, with attention to each patient's unique nutritional needs. Constructing a realistic nutrition care plan is essential for success. This article addresses some of the key nutrition-related aspects of diabetes self-care in older adults with diabetes.