A Comparison of Dietary Intakes of Title III-C Participants on Home-delivered Meal and Non-Meal Days

Abstract

Title III-C of the Older Americans Act was established to provide older persons, 60 years and older (spouses of any age are eligible), with low-cost, nutritious, congregate and home-delivered meals. One important area to be addressed concerning participants receiving home-delivered meals is whether the recipients' diets are meeting the 1989 Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs) for the age group, 51 years and older. Trained interviewers collected data, including twenty-four hour dietary recalls, in two home interviews with 101 older adults receiving home-delivered meals. Information from the twenty-four hour recalls was entered into the Nutritionist III software package (1988). The SPSS statistical package (1994) was used to analyze data. Nutrient Adequacy Ratios (NARs) and Mean Adequacy Ratios (MARs) (Krebs-Smith & Clark, 1989; Guthrie & Scheer, 1981) were determined for the following nutrients: protein, calcium, vitamin A, iron, vitamin C, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, folacin, vitamin B-6, vitamin B-12, and zinc. NARs and MARs were calculated for home-delivered meal and non-meal days. T-tests were used to determine whether participants received significantly higher NARs and MARs on home-delivered meal days in comparison to non-meal days. Percentages were calculated for responses to non-dietary questions. Degree of nutritional risk was determined by the following: Low Nutritional Risk (MAR > .66), Moderate Nutritional Risk (MAR .50 – .66), and High Nutritional Risk (MAR < .50) . A percentage of participants with NARs classifying as follows: < .50, .50 – .66, .67 – .99, and > 1.00 was determined for each of the twelve nutrients on both days. MARs indicated that most participants were at low nutritional risk on home-delivered meal days (92%) and non-meal days (78%) . Mean NARs revealed that the diets of participants were better on home-delivered meal days in comparison to non-meal days for the following nutrients: protein, calcium, iron, vitamin C, thiamin, riboflavin, folacin, and vitamin B-12 (p < .01), and vitamin A and niacin (p < .05) . Individual nutrients identified as of concern due to low consumption by participants were zinc, calcium, vitamin A, and vitamin B-6 on both home-delivered meal and non-meal days, and vitamin C, folacin, and niacin on non-meal days only. Older people at moderate or high nutritional risk need to be identified and ways to reduce such risk need to be developed. Title III-C meals need to increase zinc, calcium, vitamin A, and vitamin B-6 content, and older people need to be educated and encouraged to increase consumption of the above nutrients, as well as vitamin C, folacin, and niacin.