Elderly Individual Discussion Board Liberty Unive
I need help with a Nutrition question. All explanations and answers will be used to help me learn.
Andrea Langis
Forum 2: Observing an elderly individual
Discussion Board Forum 2
1.My subject.
My subject is elderly individual.
Demographic information of your subject.
My subject is a 66-year-old female who both retired and disabled.
Describe the location of your observation.
The location where the observation took place was my residence, during a small Father’s Day gathering.
Identify the foods eaten during the meal.
The foods eaten during this meal were corn, hot dog with bun, and baked beans.
Estimate the portion sizes eaten during the meal.
The portion sizes consumed during this meal were about 2 tablespoons of baked beans, corn on the cob (1 ear) and one hot dog and bun.
An evaluation/analysis
Concerns or hinderances.
After analyzing both the report and seeing of the subject I noticed something concerning. I noticed that she lacked mobility issues, difficulty walking without a cane, and muscles cramps while sitting. I also noticed that lack of magnesium in her diet. Magnesium plays a major role within the neuromuscular system, and in particular the transmission of muscle contraction, if one suffers from magnesium deficiency cramps may become prevalent.4 The lack of magnesium in her diet is a concern for me, and impacts her overall health and further impacts her mobility issues.
I think in general it is somewhat difficult to make suggestions for improving her diet and overall nutrition without seeing the rest of her diet and intake during the day. However, after seeing one meal I can suggest that she meet with a nutritionist as what she intakes impacts her body and can add more weight to her body. Because she lacks mobility, she is unable to do basic exercise movement or walk, which then impacts her body and bones. Bones and joins need exercise and mobility to keep functioning, so when they are not getting the correct movement due to lack of exercise its further attributes to the issue. It appears it is a double edge sword. I would recommend getting in water aerobics as it is low impact, and start taking a multi vitamin and perhaps another magnesium supplement on top of that to focus more on the muscle cramps. Water aerobics has been shown to be successful and improve motor function and general health of those older adult who participated in water exercising. 5
Discuss the role of a public health nutritionist as it pertains to your findings.
1. Reid KJ, Baron KG, Zee P C. Meal timing influences daily caloric intake in healthy adults. Nutrition Research. 2014;34(11):930-935. doi:10.1016/j.nutres.2014.09.010
2. Providing Healthy and Safe Foods As We Age. 2010. doi:10.17226/12967
4. Schwalfenberg GK, Genuis SJ. The Importance of Magnesium in Clinical Healthcare. Scientifica. 2017;2017:1-14. doi:10.1155/2017/4179326
Second reply:
Andrea Belk
Subject – The subject is a toddler.
Location – The home of the toddler is located on Fort Stewart, GA.
Foods Eaten – The toddler consumed 1/6cup shredded cheese, 1oz of taco meat, 2/3 cup of peas and 4oz of whole milk.
Evaluation/Analysis – Toddler’s need small and frequent meals so it would not be safe to assume this meal would make up 1/3 of the subjects nutritional needs.1Toddlers need to consume 1,000 to 1,400 kilocalories each day. Of that 45-65% should be carbohydrates. Good choices for carbohydrates include fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Toddlers need 5-20% of their diet to be protein. 1.1 gram per kilogram of body weight. This toddler is about 23 pounds/10.5kilograms. She needs to consume around 11 grams of protein each day. Fat intake for toddlers is around 30-40% of kilocalories. Fat is a crucial part of a toddler’s diet because it contributes to brain development.2 Iron, calcium and vitamin D are a super important part of a toddler’s diet. Iron contributes to preventing developmental delays, toddlers need at least 7 mg per day. Calcium and vitamin d support rapid bone growth.1 Toddlers need about 700 milligrams of calcium and 15 micrograms of vitamin d each day.1
Concerns – My biggest concern is that the toddler may be consuming too much protein. I’m the mother of this toddler so I know that she only consumes meat at 1-2 of her 5-6 meals per day. She eats plenty of carbohydrates in the form of iron fortified cereals such as Cheerios.
Specific suggestions for improvement – I believe this toddler needs to consume an adequate amount of carbs. In the future the mother (me) can incorporate more fresh fruits. She consumes plenty of vegetables. The mother can also offer more whole grain pastas and yogurt to provide variety.
1. Blake JS, Munoz KD, Volpe S. Nutrition: from Science to You. 2nd ed. New York: Pearson; 2019.
2. Nutrition: Toddler. Stanford Children’s Health. https://www.stanfordchildrens.org/en/topic/default?id=toddler-nutrition-90-P02291. Accessed June 22, 2020.