At first there is no time to cook, then there is no one to cook for. Thus begins the long road to malnutrition. When children and grandchildren leave, a partner leaves, a lonely elderly person hardly finds the strength and desire to cook a full meal for himself alone. Great honor, and few forces.
Gradually, all meals come down to snacks: «cookies», a sandwich, tea. Intercepted, and now there is no feeling of hunger. This is such a common story that in medicine a special name has appeared for it — “tea and toast syndrome” (tea and toast syndrome). It means an eating disorder, as a result of which the amount of vitamins, protein and salt in the diet is critically reduced. The result of such a diet is hyponatremia, osteoporosis with dangerous fractures, exhaustion.
Although most older people manage their diet, some of them get no more than 1000 calories per day. The cause of malnutrition is not always the lack of food. To tea & toast syndrome leads to physical, social, and psychological problems. For example, with age, the ability to smell decreases, and, therefore, to distinguish between tastes. Lack of teeth and sore gums prevent you from chewing your lunch thoroughly and push you to have a snack, dipping bread in tea. Decrease in muscle mass and slowing down of metabolism reduces appetite. Anorexia can also be a side effect of drugs, which become more and more with old age.
Social isolation plays a role in malnutrition: lonely people are more likely to neglect food than those who live with someone else. Another reason is the gradual development of dementia. First, it interferes with shopping, then — spinning in the kitchen, and then the person completely forgets whether he ate or not. Losses and sorrows associated with age can cause depression. And depressive disorders are poorly diagnosed in the elderly, because all the attention goes to a lot of somatic problems.
Signs that an elderly person is malnourished can be expressed not only in unexplained weight loss. Weakness, dizziness and fainting, stomach problems, frequent colds, lack of energy and apathy are signs that will help to suspect tea & toast syndrome.
Treat the underlying cause — be it a disease, a mental disorder, or a side effect of medication — it is necessary. But managing the diet of an elderly relative may partially prevent these problems, or at least not exacerbate them. To do this, you can more often and more carefully be interested in the diet; buy or order groceries at home; come and cook a nutritious lunch for a few days; donate a blender for chopping vegetables and fruits, in the end, at least occasionally keep a company for food and look at your appetite.
WHO promises that by 2025 there will be more than a billion people over 60 in the world. Perhaps because of the increase in life expectancy, tea sandwich syndrome will become more and more popular. But already now, excuses like “didn’t want to have lunch” and “I ate bread and tea” should make you wary and help maintain someone’s health.