With the continuous improvement of living standards, people pay more and more attention to their own health, so health has become one of the hot topics in today's society, and people today will achieve the purpose of health care through various ways, especially during the New Year, nutrition has also become a very popular gift.
Although health care can effectively protect people's physical health to a certain extent, and has a non-negligible significance and role in maintaining personal physical and mental health, people can only achieve the effect of health care by taking the right way.
Dr. Zhang Tian, deputy chief physician of the Department of Clinical Nutrition, specially invited to the Aviation General Hospital of China Medical University - Dr. Zhang Tian to explain to us: In the New Year, how to scientifically help parents choose nutritional products?
Characteristics of the life of the elderly
With the increase of age, the elderly have imbalanced energy metabolism balance (basal metabolic rate decrease (12% to 15%), anabolic decline does not increase catabolism), and metabolic disorders are prone to occur.
Organ function is also increasingly exhausted (reduced reserve capacity, reduced adaptability, decreased resistance), increased risk of chronic noncommunicable diseases (nutritional deficiency diseases), widowhood, retirement, empty nesting and other reasons can also lead to many psychological problems.
The decline of physical function in the elderly is mainly manifested as a decline in chewing and digestion ability, abnormal enzyme activity and hormone levels, decline in cardio-brain function, slow response to sensory responses such as vision, smell, and taste, muscle atrophy, and reduction of lean tissue, which in turn leads to a series of problems such as malnutrition, anemia, osteoporosis, abnormal weight, and muscle decay.
In this regard, the nutritional needs of the elderly mainly include the following four aspects:
1. A small number of small meals are soft and soft to prevent nutritional deficiencies
2. Take the initiative to drink enough water and actively participate in outdoor activities
3. Delay muscle decline; maintain a suitable weight
4. Adequate food intake; encourage accompanying meals
Nutritional supplements that the elderly can choose
The types of nutritional products mainly include three categories: basic, healthy and selective:
Basic type: mainly supplement the lack and loss of nutrients in the human body, such as vitamins, minerals, fiber, lactic acid bacteria, protein, lecithin, EPA, DHA, collagen, chondroitin, etc.;
Healthy type: the key to maintaining and improving health, such as soy isoflavones, royal jelly, propolis, spirulina, reishi mushroom, aloe vera, squalene, sea buckthorn, goji berries, etc.;
Selective: Nutritional products with natural therapeutic effects - for the purpose of improving health and natural treatment, such as natto, buckwheat, matsutake cordyceps, milk thistle, saw palmetto, etc., mainly some herbs or herbs, which are almost unintentionally ingested in ordinary times.
In this regard, in general, the nutrition products that the elderly can choose include the following four categories:
1. Grains and grains: multigrains and beans, fortified cereals, selenium-rich rice, fortified iron staple foods
2. High protein foods and supplements: meat, fish and shrimp, dairy products, protein powder
3. Micronutrient supplements: calcium, iron, zinc rich in nutritional products or fortified food, a variety of vitamins
4. Health care function nutrition products: enhance immune function, assist in blood lipid lowering function, antioxidant function, assist in improving memory function, relieve eye fatigue function, improve sleep function, promote lactation function, relieve physical fatigue function, increase bone density function, improve nutritional anemia function, regulate intestinal flora function, promote digestive function, laxative function
For the elderly with different underlying diseases, different nutritional products should be selected:
Malnourished emaciated elderly
Whole nutrients, such as ansin, annol, whole nutrients, homogeneous meals, short peptide nutrition powder
Protein, whey protein powder, soy protein isolate powder, glutamine powder
Zinc, iron, multivitamins
Elderly people at risk of osteoporosis
Calcium-rich nutritional products, dairy products, calcium preparations
Vitamin D, vitamin K2, magnesium
Soy isoflavones
Diabetes and the elderly at risk of developing diabetes
fish oil
vitamin d
Calcium magnesium tablets
Coenzyme Q10
lecithin
Antioxidant: grape seed
senile dementia
Total nutrients
Proteins
Probiotics/dietary fiber
Iron zinc selenium
B vitamins
There are misunderstandings in nutritional supplementation
Although appropriate supplementation of nutritional products can promote physical health and prevent diseases, many people also have misunderstandings about how to buy and how to eat:
Superstitious nutrition products, eat more health ×
Nutritional products are × to eat as a meal
Nutritional products are × to take as medicine
Nutrition can cure diseases, unauthorized discontinuation of drugs ×
Imported nutrition is better than domestic nutrition, imports, patents, high-tech ×
By feeling, listen to other people's recommendations to buy nutritional products ×
Listen to ads, watch the promotions to buy ×
It should be clear that nutrition is food, not medicine, it only has the effect of eating, can not replace the drug to treat diseases, the medicine that should be taken can not be stopped at will. When purchasing nutritional products, it is necessary to recognize and identify the health food logo (small blue hat) and health food approval number on the product packaging, and to buy from regular shopping malls, supermarkets, pharmacies and other business units.
Regarding the frequency of use of nutritional products, you should pay attention to the following three points:
1. Use on demand
Long-term supplementation when deficient
No shortage without supplementation
2. Select the time by symbol
Vitamins and minerals are eaten with meals
Fat-soluble nutrients
Water-soluble vitamins
Minerals, such as calcium, iron
Macronutrients
With meals
Add meals
3. The effect is good when taken in divided doses
How do the elderly make scientific food supplements?
Characteristics of scientific diet for the elderly: comprehensive nutrition, reasonable, pay attention to food quality and dietary hygiene habits. In the daily diet, it is necessary to ensure sufficient protein, low fat, low salt, rich vitamins, sufficient amount of dietary fiber and water, animal and plant foods, coarse grains and fine grains, and eat more fresh green leafy vegetables.
Recommended Daily Diet:
The staple food is 200-250g, thick and thin
Vegetables > 400g and a variety of varieties
Appropriate amount of fish and shrimp, lean meat 100-175g, soy products 100g
Milk 300-500ml, choose more yogurt
1 fruit (200~300g)
A handful of nuts (10g per day, try to choose raw nuts)
When the appetite is poor or the food is insufficient, the diet should be soft and rotten (meat foam, meatballs, fish balls) and increase cooking time.
How do I tell which nutrients I need?
To determine which nutritional products you or your parents and elderly need, you can consider from the following three perspectives:
1. Based on age/gender
Around 40 years old: B vitamins, fish oil, lecithin, grape seed, soy isoflavones
50-60 years: Spirulina, vitamin C, fish oil, bovine colostrum, soy lecithin, liquid calcium, natto red yeast, ginkgo biloba extract, sea buckthorn
70 years and older: Protein, fish oil, taurine, zinc, propolis, dietary fiber, lecithin, calcium and magnesium tablets, vitamin D
2. Is there a disease?
Malnutrition, anemia, overweight/obesity, osteoporosis, sarcopenia, diabetes, constipation, etc
Work and lifestyle habits? pressure?
Sedentary : Improves intestinal function, probiotics, dietary fiber, vitamin D, vitamin A, deep sea fish oil
Staying up late: B vitamins, vitamin C, vitamin D, sea cucumber, ginseng, Rhodiola Rosea
Stress: Antioxidants such as lycopene, astaxanthin, vitamin ABCE, fish oil
In short, appropriate supplementation of nutritional products can improve the nutritional status of the elderly, improve the quality of life of the elderly, enhance physical resistance, and achieve the role of preventing diseases, but we must choose nutritional products correctly and scientifically.
Interactive Q&A session
Q
I am usually prone to mouth ulcers, eat takeaway or canteen more every day, rarely cook for myself, can eating vitamin tablets alleviate or prevent mouth ulcers?
Director Zhang Tian: Mouth ulcers and vitamin B, vitamin D and other trace elements of the deficiency are related, therefore, eating vitamin tablets can alleviate or prevent the problem of mouth ulcers, but this is not the fundamental way to solve the problem, takeaway, canteen meals are usually high in oil, and food safety is difficult to guarantee, in collocation with more staple foods, less vegetables, in this regard, the daily diet is best to bring their own rice, if you want to eat takeaway or canteen, you need to try to ensure more vegetables and fruits intake, or bring some cucumbers, tomatoes and other food supplements.
How to determine whether you have malnutrition?
Director Zhang Tian: First of all, to see whether the diet is reasonable and balanced, and secondly, it can be seen whether the weight is within the normal range, in addition, even obese people may be malnourished, mainly manifested as physical weakness and lack of energy.
Will calcium tablets cause stones when taken for a long time?
Director Zhang Tian: Stones are more common gallstones and kidney stones, mainly related to bile secretion, metabolic abnormalities, and calcium relationship is relatively not so large, if you drink milk every day, nutritional balance, do not need additional calcium tablets; if you do not drink milk, you can supplement calcium tablets, when taking calcium tablets to see the calcium content of the product, daily supplementation within 1g is safe, but the specific amount should also be selected according to the age group or population.
Are young people suitable for eating health supplements? For example, health care products such as Rhodiola Rosea and fish oil will be more suitable for middle-aged and elderly people than for young people?
Director Zhang Tian: There is not much distinction between age groups, Rhodiola can improve blood oxygen capacity, and fish oil may have certain benefits for improving vision, improving memory, and regulating blood lipids.
Osteoporosis in the 80s, eating calcium tablets is not good, how to supplement food supplements? Should vitamin K be supplemented?
Director Zhang Tian: Need, vitamin K and vitamin D should be supplemented.
Which foods have more carbon and more carbs are really prone to obesity?
Director Zhang Tian: Staple foods such as rice noodles have higher carbon water, and carbohydrate is an important source of energy for maintaining basic life activities, but if the staple food intake is more, the excess energy is not consumed, and it will be easy to gain weight.
How long can health supplements generally be effective?
Director Zhang Tian: Different health care products have different effects, but most of them can only be effective after long-term intake, such as vitamin supplementation, which will have an effect after at least a week.
Is it easier to get fat when eating meat, or is it easier to get fat with carbs?
Director Zhang Tian: Carbs are more likely to get fat.
Edit: Dr. Spring Rain
Image source: Expert live courseware