It’s easy to assume that weight loss or a reduced appetite is simply part of getting older. But while some changes to eating habits are common with age, unexplained weight loss should never be considered a normal part of ageing.
Often, the signs of poor nutrition appear gradually. A loved one may be eating less, becoming weaker, losing muscle, or taking longer to recover from illness or a hospital stay. These subtle changes can have a significant impact on strength, independence and quality of life.
Questions to Help You Recognise the Early Signs
At Recovery Station, our Accredited Practising Dietitian, Hannah, often helps families, carers and healthcare professionals identify these early warning signs before they lead to further decline. To help, she’s put together some of the key questions to consider when you’re concerned about an older person’s nutrition.
You don’t need to answer “yes” to all of them. Even one or two may be enough to start a conversation about whether additional nutrition support could help.
Changes in Eating and Weight
Is your loved one at risk of malnutrition?
Dietitians are uniquely qualified to diagnose malnutrition, identify its underlying causes and provide targeted nutrition intervention before further functional decline occurs.
Have they experienced unexplained weight loss or weight gain?
Dietitians can determine whether nutrition is contributing to weight changes and develop personalised strategies that protect nutritional status, muscle mass and function while underlying medical causes are investigated.
Are eating, chewing or swallowing difficulties affecting food intake?
Dietitians work alongside other allied health professionals to ensure texture-modified diets remain nutritionally adequate, practical and enjoyable, reducing the risk of malnutrition and dehydration.
Are digestive symptoms affecting nutritional intake?
Dietitians identify nutrition-related contributors to gastrointestinal symptoms and provide evidence-based strategies that improve symptoms while maintaining nutritional adequacy.
Changes in Everyday Life
Has there been a significant life change?
Dietitians tailor nutrition to changing health, functional and social circumstances, helping people maintain their wellbeing and independence.
Are they expressing body image concerns or eating restrictively?
Dietitians work collaboratively to understand the reasons behind food restriction and support safe, nutritionally adequate eating while respecting the person’s preferences and goals.
Recovery, Strength and Healthy Ageing
Do they have pressure injuries or wounds that are slow to heal?
Dietitians assess increased nutritional requirements during healing and implement evidence-based nutrition strategies that support tissue repair and recovery.
Are they becoming frail or losing muscle?
Dietitians assess nutrition as a contributor to frailty and develop personalised strategies that support strength, physical function and healthy ageing.
Is there concern about osteoporosis or poor bone health?
Dietitians optimise nutrition to support bone and muscle health, complement medical treatment and reduce future fracture risk.
Have they recently been discharged from hospital?
Dietitians support nutritional recovery following illness or surgery, helping people regain strength, rebuild function and reduce the risk of readmission.
Living with Health Conditions
Have they been diagnosed with a progressive condition?
Dietitians adapt nutrition as health needs change, helping people maintain nutritional status, function and quality of life throughout disease progression.
Have they recently been diagnosed with cancer?
Dietitians play a key role in maintaining nutritional status throughout cancer treatment, helping people tolerate treatment, recover more effectively and maintain quality of life.
Do they have a chronic health or mental health condition that’s new or difficult to manage?
Dietitians translate evidence into practical, personalised nutrition care that supports improvements in physical and mental health.
Medications Can Affect Nutrition
Have medications affected appetite or nutritional intake?
Some medications, including GLP-1 medications, can affect appetite and nutritional intake. Dietitians identify medication-related nutrition concerns and tailor nutrition strategies to minimise side effects while supporting adequate nutritional intake.
Are they taking several medications?
Dietitians support people to meet their nutritional needs while navigating complex medication regimens and food-medication interactions.
Early Nutrition Support Can Make a Real Difference
Poor nutrition doesn’t happen overnight, and neither does recovery.
The earlier nutrition concerns are recognised, the greater the opportunity to maintain strength, independence and quality of life. Whether you’re supporting a loved one, caring for a client or noticing changes in your own health, seeking advice early can make a meaningful difference.
Recovery Station’s Accredited Practising Dietitians work closely with our Exercise Physiologists and wider multidisciplinary team to provide personalised support for older people living with diabetes, frailty, chronic disease, neurological conditions and other age-related health concerns.
If you’d like to learn more about how our team can support you, a family member or someone in your care, we’d love to hear from you.
For more information, call us on 1300 588 851.
Until next time,
