Journal of the American College of Nutrition, Vol 1, Issue 1 3-9, Copyright © 1982 by American College of Nutrition
The role of nutrition in aging
N. W. Shock
Nutritional requirements do not change appreciably with age among adults.
However, with increasing age total caloric intake is gradually reduced, but
among normal people living in the community dietary deficiencies are seldom
found. Deficiencies in specific nutritional elements are found among poor
and disadvantaged elderly people. The use of special diets or the ingestion
of megadoses of vitamins do not improve health or prolong life. The
reduction in food intake and the tendency of old people to eat the same
diet day after day makes them potentially vulnerable to possible
deficiencies in specific vitamins, minerals, and protein. In most animal
species (rats, mice, fruit flies, rotifers), a reduction in the daily food
intake over the entire life-span increases it. The mechanisms of this
increase are not known. Although there are rational reasons to believe that
nutrition must play an important role in aging, experimental data to prove
relationships are most scanty. The field of nutrition and gerontology share
many difficulties, viz the lack of a biological index of aging and an index
of optimal nutrition in individual adults. Research on these basic issues
is essential before we can give definite answers to the questions about
relationships between nutrition and aging.
