Nutritional needs of the elderly: debate and recommendations.

Despite all that has been written, little evidence supports the notion that the American diet for the elderly needs major modifications (table 3). Particularly in counseling and assessing the elderly, physicians must keep in mind that whatever technique older patients used to reach their present age is probably better than what we can recommend. In the last analysis, the most sensible nutritional recommendations we can make are to maintain ideal body weight, reduce animal protein, increase complex carbohydrates and fiber, reduce saturated fats and cholesterol, increase calcium intake, and avoid high doses of supplementary nutrients. If available data are any indication, many community-dwelling elderly persons are now making most of these modifications.