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Older People, Food, and Satisfaction With Life

Abstract:

Although multiple factors contribute to health status, nutrition is one of the major determinants of successful aging. Food not only is critical to one's physiological well-being, but as research has shown, also contributes to social, cultural, and psychological quality of life. Dietary intake and nutritional status not only play a major role in the overall quality of health of older people, but also have an impact on their satisfaction with life. As discussed in this chapter, the type of food eaten and the social cultural context all make significant contributions to older people's satisfaction with their quality of life. Furthermore, it has been shown that among older people eating is among the most important activities of daily living. Meals add a sense of security, meaning, and structure to an older adult's day, providing feelings of independence and control and a sense of mastery over his/her environment. This chapter discusses older people's satisfaction with food and quality of life as it relates to factors such as income level, gender, social connections, and education level. This chapter also looks at older people's food-related satisfaction with life, identifying some of the determinants and barriers to satisfaction with food-related quality of life, and discusses possible ways of enhancing older people's quality of life in the domain of food.