Sources of nutrition information used and preferred by older people: A scoping review

A nutritionally adequate diet is needed for older people to optimise their nutritional status and promote healthy ageing. Making use of nutrition information can inform in people’s food choices to help them improve their health and food experience.

Over a million older people in the UK are at risk of or experience malnutrition. This number is likely to increase as the population ages. Understanding where older people source their nutrition information could help inform public health interventions to reduce the prevalence of malnutrition.

This scoping review aims to summarise studies that examined sources of nutrition information used by older people. A scoping review in order to map and explore studies that examine the current sources of nutritional knowledge used by older people was undertaken using PUBMED, Scopus and CINAHL databases during March 2023. Of the 8819 studies identified, 13 studies reporting on 12 research projects met the inclusion criteria of exposure to, impact by, or preference for at least one source of nutrition information.

Eight studies showed that older people used magazines; 6 studies showed that TV, dietitians, embodied knowledge, family and friends and GPs were the main sources of nutrition information. Educational level, gender and trust in the messages influenced their ability to use these sources to inform their food choices.

Research is needed to further explore the impact of nutritional information in order to identify ways in which to support older adults to make use of nutrition information to help make food choices that would facilitate healthy ageing.