Greater energy, protein and fat intake following the addition of sauce to an older adult's meal

Abstract

). The present study has investigated the impact of the addition of sauce to an olderadultOs meal on short-term intake.Twenty-eight individuals aged > 65 years were recruited from Þve residential homes in Belfast, UK. All participants undertook thestudy on four separate occasions during the main meal of the day. On two occasions each participant received their main meal with nosauce, on the other two occasions each participant received the same main meal with sauce (gravy, white sauce, mustard sauce andtomato-based sauce). Intake during each meal was calculated based on weight consumed of all individual food items. Pleasantness andfamiliarity were measured following consumption, using Þve-point Likert scales. Hunger and desire to eat were also measured before thestart of each meal to ensure against confounding, again using Þve-point Likert scales. Sauce v. no-sauce conditions were compared usingrepeated measured t tests.Compared with meals with no sauce, meals with sauce were found to result in signiÞcantly greater intakes of energy (t(27) 2.18,P = 0.04), energy consumed from protein (t(27) 2.97, P < 0.01) and energy consumed from fat (t(27) 2.62, P = 0.01). No differences werefound between meals with and without sauce in weight of food consumed and energy consumed from carbohydrate (largest t(27) - 0.85,P = 0.40). No differences were found between meals with and without sauce in pre-meal hunger or desire to eat (largest t(27) 0.58,P = 0.57), or in amount of food provided (t(109) 0.13, P = 0.89). Post-meal ratings of pleasantness or familiarity were also found not todiffer between meals with and without sauce (largest t(27) 1.47, P = 0.15). A similar pattern of results was also found when participantexpectations were taken into account, with no differences between individuals who expected sauces to have an effect on intake andindividuals who expected no effects (largest F(1,26) 3.38, P = 0.08).The Þndings of the study suggest that the addition of sauce to an older adultOsO meal can result in increases in total energy consumedand in energy consumed from protein and fat. These Þndings suggest that sauces may provide a potential means of increasing energyintake in older adults. Similar Þndings have also been suggested elsewhere using condiments