Food for added life years: Putting research into action (Food4Years)

据预测，到2050年，英国将有四分之一的人年龄在65岁或以上。然而，在过去的几十年里，我们看到了寿命的延长，但这并不一定得到健康方面的增加的补充。药物和治疗的改进意味着老年人与疾病一起生活的时间更长，导致他们晚年健康状况不佳、残疾和虚弱。随着我们人口的平均老龄化，这给卫生和社会护理服务带来了越来越大的压力。确保老年人的健康饮食是支持老年人健康、幸福、独立和生活质量的重要战略之一。在英国，每十个65岁以上的人中就有一个营养不良或有营养不良的风险。老年人食用营养丰富的饮食有许多障碍。近年来，大量研究探索了可以提高老年人饮食质量的因素，但这些知识尚未转化为食品和政策变化。例如，市场上有太多针对婴儿、儿童和青少年的产品，而且一致承认他们的需求是不同的。然而，尽管食品行业认识到有必要解决为老年消费者设计和营销高质量食品和餐饮的挑战，但支持健康老龄化的产品仍然缺乏。需要做更多的工作来增加老年人对特定食物、饮食和营养素的摄入量，以帮助他们随着年龄的增长提高生活质量。这可以通过各种方法实现，其中可能包括改善老年人、其照顾者和卫生保健专业人员可获得的营养信息，开发和销售满足老年人特定需求的食品，改变行为战略，如“轻推”，以及改变政策，促进为老年人制定更健康的饮食。我们项目的总体目标是建立一个由消费者、企业、慈善机构、临床医生和学术研究人员组成的社区，他们完全致力于为老年人开发、整合和交流健康、负担得起的食物和饮食。我们将专门为食品、饮食和环境制定研究、沟通活动和政策指导，以提高英国老龄化人口的生活质量和改善健康。

By 2050, it is predicted that one in four people in the UK will be aged 65 years or over. We have seen increases in lifespan over the last number of decades, however, this not necessarily complemented by increases in health. Improvements in medication and treatments mean that older people are spending longer living with their diseases causing them to spend their latter years living with poor health, disability, and frailty. With our population becoming older on average, this places increasing strain on health and social care services. Ensuring a healthy diet in older adults is one important strategy for supporting health, wellbeing, independence, and quality of life in older adults. One in ten people over the age of 65 are malnourished or at risk of malnutrition in the UK. There are many barriers for older people to consume a nutrient dense diet. In recent years a large body of research has explored factors that can enhance the quality of the diet in older adults, however this knowledge has yet to translate into food products and policy changes. For example, there is a plethora of products on the market targeting infants, children and adolescents, and a consistent acknowledgement that their needs are different. Yet there remains a lack of products supporting healthy ageing, despite the food industry recognising the need to address the challenges of designing and marketing high-quality foods and meals for the older adult consumer. Much more needs to be done to increase the intake of specific foods, diets and nutrients by older adults, that can help them to improve the quality of life as they age. This can be achieved through a variety of methods which may include improving the nutritional information available to older adults, their carers and health care professional, development and marketing of food products that meet older adult's specific needs, behaviour change strategies such as "nudging" and changes in policy that promote the development of healthier diets for older adults. The overall aim of our project is to build a community of consumers, businesses, charities, clinicians, and academic researchers that are thoroughly committed to the development, integration and communication of healthy, affordable foods and diets for older adults. We will develop research, communication campaigns and policy guidance for foods, diets and environments specifically to promote quality of life and improved health in the ageing UK population.