الفهرس 
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Abstract
The increase in the elderly population in most societies has drawn attention to ”successful or healthy aging”. Good nutritional status throughout life helps prevent the development and progression of diseases and disabilities in later life, thereby significantly contributing to the quality of life.
The aim of the present work was to determine the food consumption patterns among elders attending elderly clubs in Alexandria. A cross-sectional study design was conducted in the elderly clubs in Alexandria targeting elderly people aged 60 years and above attending these clubs. The sample size was determined to be at least 380 based on the capacity of each club. Elders were recruited from the six elderly clubs. The previously determined sample was proportionally allocated from the six elderly clubs based on monthly attendance and elders attending the selected clubs were invited to participate in the study after taking their verbal consent. A structured interview using a predesigned questionnaire was used to collect personal and socio-demographic data, medical history, physical activity patterns, smoking pattern, data about the person responsible for food purchase and preparation, data related to affection of appetite by the psychological status of the elderly and knowledge of the elders regarding sound nutrition and balanced diet, patterns of eating practices and anthropometric measurements in the form of weight and height were taken. The dietary intake of the elders was determined using 24 hour recall method.
The study revealed the following results:
A high proportion of elders reported having three meals daily (68.2%(, the majority of them (82.6%) reported lunch was the main meal, and more than half of them (59.5%) used to have breakfast daily. About one third of the elders (37.1%) reported that they used to drink 4-6 cups of fluids daily.
Almost one fifth of the elders (18.9%) stated they never consumed milk; about one quarter (23.6%) did not have snacks between meals, and about one quarter (26.8%) used to watch TV during eating.
About one third of the elders (38.7%) stated that they always drank tea directly after meals. The most commonly followed dietary regimen were those for hypertension and diabetes mellitus with more than half (55.8%) of the elders being moderately adherent to such regimens.
About half of elders (47.4%) did not practice any physical exercise, and this percentage was higher among females.
The majority of elders (73.9%) were suffering from dental problem affecting mastication.
The appetite of about two thirds of the elderly (64.7%) decreased by mood changes
The problem of overweight and obesity was prevalent especially among the females (51.8%, 33.9% respectively).
The highest percentage of elders (51.3%) who attained 100% intake satisfaction and more of RDAs for energy had no chronic diseases, were not using medications (51.2%), had dental problems (44.8%), did not practice any exercise (48.9%), used to watch TV for 4 > 8 hours (50.6%) and were non smokers (44.7%).
The mean percentage of the elders who had dietary intake below two thirds of RDAs was higher among males for most of the nutrients except vitamin A, vitamin E, Calcium, Sodium, and Potassium.
Knowledge of the elders regarding sound nutrition and balanced diet were adequate in some aspects and inadequate in others. Almost half of the elderly had poor knowledge and the other half had satisfactory knowledge.
The main source of knowledge was mass media followed by physicians, books and magazines.
The highest percentage of the elders (79.3%) who had good or very good dietary knowledge attained 100% intake satisfaction and more of RDAs for energy as compared to 43.9% who had poor knowledge.
Based on the previous conclusions, the following recommendations are suggested:
7. Establishing nutrition education program as part of the activities in the elderly clubs including how to eat properly and to avoid unhealthy eating habits.
8. Mass media such as Radio, TV, newspaper and magazines should include information about well balanced diet and healthy food which should be adopted on nationwide scale.
9. Booklets and pamphlets with simple explanation should be available in the elderly clubs.
10. Encourage elderly to practice simple exercise regularly.
11. Further research could also focus on analyzing the nutritional problems among the elderly with special emphasis on the different physical and psychological factors impacting such problems.