Healthy Eating For Older Adults

Healthy Eating For Older Adults

May 26, 2004

You can’t stop the clock or reverse the aging process. However, choices you make now can slow the changes and challenges that come with getting older.

After age 50, you need fewer calories due to decreased muscle mass and energy expenditure. But that doesn’t mean you need fewer nutrients –like calcium, vitamin D, vitamin C and iron, among others.

Calcium keeps your bones healthy and helps reduce your risk of osteoporosis. For both men and women over age 50, calcium needs increase 20 percent, to between 1,000 and 1,300 milligrams per day.

Your body also needs help from calcium’s partner vitamin D to keep your bones strong. Good vitamin D-rich food choices include milk, fortified cereals, eggs, canned salmon or tuna.

To help keep energy levels up, older adults need to make sure iron and vitamin C are part of your daily eating plan, too. Iron-rich foods include meat, poultry, fish, beans, cereal and whole grains. For vitamin C, focus on citrus fruits, melons and berries.

Produced by ADA's Public Relations Team

 

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