Adequate energy and macronutrient intakes are important for disease prevention and health maintenance in older adults. The objective of this analysis was to estimate usual intakes and sources of energy, macronutrients and dietary fibre in older Irish adults. Analysis was based on the National Adult Nutrition Survey (NANS) (2008–2010) (www.iuna.net). A 4 day semi-weighed food record was used to collect food and beverage intake data from a nationally representative sample of 1500 adults (226 aged ⩾ 65 years). Nutrient intakes were estimated using UK and Irish food composition tables. Usual intakes of nutrients were calculated via the NCI-method using SAS© Enterprise Guide(Reference Tooze, Kipnis and Buckman1) and sources were calculated using SPSS™.
Table 1. Mean daily intake of energy, macronutrients and dietary fibre in Irish adults aged ⩾ 65 years
Table 2. Key sources of energy, macronutrients and dietary fibre
Mean intakes of protein were above the Population Reference Intake (PRI) of 0·83 g/kg body weight per day proposed by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA)(2). Mean daily intakes of carbohydrate and total fat were approaching or within the reference intake ranges (45–60 %TE, 20–35 %TE)(3, 4); however, the mean intake of saturated fat was higher than recommended (⩽10 %TE)(5). Furthermore mean daily intake of dietary fibre was lower than the adequate intake of 25 g/d proposed by EFSA(3). These findings may be useful for developing dietary strategies to improve macronutrient and dietary fibre intake in older Irish adults.
This research was funded by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine under the Nutridata Project 13 F 542; 2014–2016.
