Background:

Despite decades of research that has yielded greater knowledge of malnutrition among the elderly and the sick, disease- and age-related malnutrition still occurs. A good nutritional status prevents disease, increases the quality of life and reduces the suffering of the elderly. Malnutrition can be prevented and avoided if appropriate measures are taken in time. As care responsible, the nurse has a large part of the responsibility in nutrition care for the elderly.

Aim:

To compile evidence-based measures when risk of malnutrition in the elderly - from a nursing perspective.

Method:

A literature review was made out of ten quantitative articles.

Results:

In two of the three studies with nutritional drink as the intervention, there was a significant increase in body weight and BMI. Intervention with an energy-enriched diet and/or extra meals showed a significant increase in BMI in three of the four studies. Also MNA increased in three of four other studies in the same category.

Conclusion:

It emerged in the result of the studies that nutritional drink, energy-enriched diet and/or extra meals as well as multi-interventions, all had effects on different parts of the nutritional status. The best effect on body weight and BMI were seen in studies of nutritional drink, energy-enriched diet and/or extra meals. In several of the studies also the members of the control group benefited positively, probably because of increased attention. This suggests that it is possible to prevent and treat older people at risk of malnutrition with simple care measures.