Nutritional Problems in Indonesian Elderly Population: Establishing their profiles and roles of nutritional interventions

Samenvatting (Engelstalig)

Indonesia has an aging population, but only 13% of Indonesian older adults are fit. Malnutrition is one of the main contributing factors. By the time this PhD program was initiated, there was limited knowledge about the magnitude of malnutrition problems among Indonesian older adults. Furthermore, very few studies had been conducted to investigate the efficacy of nutritional interventions.

Thus, the aim of this PhD Research is to comprehensively investigate the malnutrition problem among Indonesian elderly population by:
1. Reviewing the literature for the prevalence of malnutrition in this population.
2. Assessing the (in)adequacy of energy and nutrient intake in this population.
3. Comparing the adequacy of energy and nutrient intake between dairy users and non-dairy users, as well as estimating the prevalence of lactose intolerance among Indonesian older adults.
4. Evaluating the effectiveness of nutritional intervention provided as a dairy based nutrient dense drink on top of usual care- albeit the lactose intolerance issue- in improving energy and nutrient intake, nutritional status and performance.

We found that:
1. Malnutrition is highly prevalent among Indonesian elderly population.
2. Malnutrition comes with under nutrition as signaled by poor intakes of specific nutrients.
3. Dairy users have higher nutrient intakes than non dairy users have. Lactose intolerance is highly prevalent in older adults, but does not necessarily hinder supplementation with dairy-based, nutrient-dense products low in lactose.
4. Enhancing usual care by supplementation with a dairy nutrient dense drink improved nutrient intake and nutritional status of older outpatients.

This PhD project demonstrates the potential of integrating human nutrition science with geriatric medicine to address malnutrition and improve health outcomes in the elderly population. The research sets the foundation for evidence-based nutritional interventions that can be scaled up to benefit at-risk older adults, driving policy change and advancing geriatric health care in Indonesia.