As we get older (and of course, smarter), a nutritious diet becomes more important. “In general, we will need a little fewer calories, but many of our needs will remain the same as we were when we were younger and we could be consuming more calories while maintaining our weight,” says Kristian Morey, RD, LDN, a clinical nutritionist with the Nutrition and Diabetes Education Program at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore, Maryland.
While the amount of food we eat can remain somewhat stable as we age, it doesn’t matter how efficiently our bodies extract nutrients from these foods. As older adults, “some of the nutrients we eat from our diet are less efficient. For example, people over 50 have higher needs for vitamin D due to the skin’s decreased ability to produce it, ”she continues, noting that we can also lose the ability to absorb certain nutrients such as calcium and vitamin B12.
“Finally, some drugs can interfere with the absorption or use of some nutrients – this is a problem with zinc as deficiency is common in the elderly,” she adds.
For more nutritional tips seniors should be aware of, we asked registered dietitians to share the nutritional secrets we may not know by the time we turn 50. Read on to find out more about How To Eat Healthy The 100 Most Unhealthy Foods In The World.
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