Frailty and disease related malnutrition

However, although an increase in life expectancy can be a great thing, healthy lifespans have not kept pace with longevity. Besides the dangers posed by well-known conditions such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes, rising longevity rates bring new risks to the forefront. Some conditions of aging, such as frailty, progress gradually, in ways that can be difficult to identify – slowly robbing people of their mobility, their independence, their dignity and their joy in life over time. These conditions need not be an inevitable part of aging, but age does increase the risk of their development.

Patients typically enter a spiral of decline in which inadequate nutrition leads to muscle weakness, increasing frailty and risk of costly injury (falls, etc.) and disability.

Frailty is a medical condition that affects both the brain and the body, and that can leave older patients vulnerable, both immediately and in the future. With little strength left in reserve, frail patients often have a low resistance to even the most minor of illnesses, meaning something like a urinary tract infection can result in a greater risk of the onset of disability or even institutionalization.

Conditions of aging, such as weight loss, declining muscle mass (‘sarcopenia’) and frailty, are often viewed as an inevitable part of growing old – not associated with a patient’s nutritional intake. In fact, as we get older, nutrition becomes an even greater factor in terms of its
influence on functional ability.

Research suggests that nutritional intervention with medical nutrition products as part of a comprehensive medical strategy has been effective at helping patients return to a healthy aging trajectory.