Intervention for the Elderly With Malnutrition, Hidden Hunger and Low Skeletal Muscle Mass

Background: As the aging of the population aggravating, the ratio of the elderly in empty nest family has reached 50%, particularly in big and medium size cities, it is as high as 70%. The elderly in those families where no child living inside, elderly living alone, including an individual living alone or living with spouse are known as empty nester. The diversity of food consumption of empty nester is always poor, with single and simple meals, especially for the consumption of "core food" (fish, meat, egg, milk, vegetables and fruits), and the quantity and variety of consumption is very limited, which make the elderly be prone to be deficient of high quality protein and micronutrient. In 2005, the World Health Organization (WHO) brought up a new concept for the universally exiting problem of vitamin and trace elements intake deficiency among people, namely Hidden Hunger. With age increasing, multiple causes such as single eating pattern, empty nest lifestyle and chronic diseases lead to long term intake deficiency of protein and micronutrient of the elderly, which will further result in various symptoms of nutritional deficiency. Therefore, it is particularly important for the empty nester to have sufficient energy, high quality protein and multiple micronutrients to prevent hidden hunger and sarcopenia, thus avoiding the health problem and life quality decreasing caused by them.