Dietary Intake among Home‐Delivered Meal Recipients before and after Receiving Meals

Abstract

The number of Americans over age 65 is growing rapidly, increasing pressure for social services such as home‐delivered meal programs (HDM) to help elderly age in place. HDM programs are struggling to meet demands since funding has declined despite evidence that a high proportion of homebound elders are at nutritional risk. It is important to assess the efficacy of HDM in improving diet. The goal of this research was to determine the impact of HDM on nutrient intake among a sample of elderly in central Texas.Food intake in older adults was collected before and 3 months after receiving HDM meals in 2 separate samples, in 2011 (N=38), and in 2013 (N=28). In 2011, nutrient intake was assessed using the Block Brief Food Frequency Questionnaire and in 2013, with the web‐based Diet History Questionnaire II. Data were combined for this analysis. Depending on the normality of the data, paired t‐tests or Wilcoxon signed‐rank tests were conducted to compare pre and post intake of 31 dietary variables. In each sample and in the combined sample, the number of subjects who met dietary recommendations for macronutrient distributions, fiber, magnesium, riboflavin, and vitamins E and D remained the same or increased after receiving HDM, while the number of subjects who met phosphorus recommendations declined after receiving meals. Additionally, intakes of 14 nutrients were significantly greater or showed a trend toward increasing in the 2013 sample. However, in each sample and the combined sample, only % kcal from protein, riboflavin, and vitamin B12 recommendations were met by more than 75% of clients at follow‐up. While these results support the positive contribution of HDMs on nutrient intake, they also highlight the need for nutrition support for homebound elderly.