To eat too much or not to eat enough? We hear so much about obesity now that the emphasis seems to be on over-eating rather than malnourishment.
For two months, programmes such as Operation Transformation have been on our television screens and our radio and various advertisements promising permanent weight loss start on January 1st and run for months.
With increasing concern about growing obesity in children and the health implications of the same, means that many of us are becoming more conscious about what we eat.
Two sides to the story
It was with some surprise then, that I read that over one million people aged over 64 are malnourished in the UK.
Good nutrition is essential for good health and resistance to illness and disease. Insufficient nutrition means people are more susceptible to illness and generally suffer poor health. Good nutrition means that wounds heal more quickly, people recover more quickly from any illnesses, they are more immune to diseases and are healthier. Apparently, our nutritional requirements change as we become older but we need more research in this area. The researchers need to know how the messages between the gut and the brain change as we get older. They know we feel ‘fuller for longer’ as we age, that our bodies absorb nutrients and our sense of taste diminishes. Hence, nutrition is not just of utmost importance for growing children and teenagers; it is not to be taken lightly once we are over 65 too.
Many of us just focus on weight loss, but the nutrition is much more important than that, particularly as we age.
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