Friendship...how 1 million will eat alone all summer
£20m
WHEN 99-year-old Marjorie, from Sevenoaks, Kent, was widowed in 2000, she often ate alone.
With both her grown-up children living at least 50 miles away, they couldn’t spend many mealtimes together.
Mealtimes became a chore and, although she was once a keen cook, Marjorie began to feel it was not worth going to a lot of trouble cooking a decent meal just for herself. “It felt lonely having most out on that simple pleasure that so many of us take for granted, and it can have very serious consequences.”
Martin Jones, managing director of care company Home Instead, which commissioned the research, said: “Malnutrition is a serious issue, which is compounded by, and exacerbates, other serious health issues often experienced by older people. We can of my meals alone and eating wasn’t enjoyable any more,” she said.
“I didn’t want to lose control over what I was eating by having someone come in and tell me what I was eating that day.
“In 2014 I found out about Home Instead Senior Care. The carers there help me with my shopping and provide companionship.
“They visit six lunchtimes a week to help me prepare lunch all play a part in keeping food as a positive part of daily life for people as they age, by recognising when someone is struggling to prepare meals themselves, or when they are losing interest in eating.
“By knowing what to look out for, and what nutrition requirements look like, we can help make food and eating enjoyable again. We’re encouraging and supper, and also take me to the supermarket once a week.
“I don’t want someone else making all the decisions about what I eat. Every day we look in the fridge and freezer together, so I can choose what I want to have for lunch. Then I put together a list of foods that I enjoy eating.”
This extra support has helped her to reignite her passion for food. Marjorie said: “It makes a huge difference having someone around helping me prepare my meals and eating with me. It really makes mealtimes a pleasure again.
“I still eat with family when they visit on Sundays. Between the carers and my family, I have someone to eat with most days. I wouldn’t like to do it on my own. I like their help and company.” people to share meals with older relatives or neighbours over the summer holidays.”
Home Instead is launching the Stay Nourished initiative in consultation with specialists at Bournemouth University to help families spot malnutrition in the elderly and dispel misconceptions around diet and appetite for older generations. Prime Minister Theresa May appointed Tracey Crouch as “minister for loneliness” earlier this year and unveiled a £20million fund for charities and community groups to “help isolated people and those suffering from loneliness”. BRITTLE bone disease can be staved off by adding soya to your diet, scientists have found.
Foods tofu, tempeh, edamame, soya sauce and soya milk are rich in compounds that mimic the effect of oestrogen.
Levels of the sex hormone – which strengthens bones – drop after the menopause making women particularly vulnerable to weakening condition.
But soya could help protect bone health both before and after the menopause.
Professor Pamela Hinton, a nutritionist at Missouri University, Columbia, US, said: “The findings suggest all women might see improved bone strength by adding some soya-based whole foods to their diet.”
Model
And the report found the food could boost younger women’s bone strength. Prof Hinton added: “Our findings suggest women don’t even need to eat as much soya as is found in typical Asian diets.”
The findings published in the journal Bone Reports are based on female rats that have previously been shown to be a good animal model of the menopause.
Osteoporosis blights the lives of three million British women with bones becoming fragile from loss of tissue due to hormone changes or vitamin D
or calcium deficiency.
It is twice as prevalent in women as men – and usually starts from the age of 50. There is no screening programme so it goes largely undiagnosed until a bone is fractured.
A third of sufferers do not know they have it until that happens.