A study of the diets of 2,000 people aged 65 and older found that people who eat snacks actually consumed more calories at a time in their lives when they are susceptible to weight loss and poor nutrition.
While scientists still believe that snacking can trigger obesity in younger patients, experts now believe it can also ensure that the elderly are eating enough calories. The study was published in this month's Journal of the American Dietetic Association.
The study also found that many older Americans suffer weight loss due to several factors including health problems, medication and changes in taste. When compared to the people in 20's, 70-year-old men ate 1,000 to 1,200 fewer calories. The decline for women was between 600 to 800 calories a day, according to the study.
AP quotes Jean Lloyd, national nutritionist for the U.S. Administration on Aging, as saying, "You're not always sure in clinical practice how to handle a patient with decreased appetite who may have other health problems. You don't know if you should tell them to eat something small after lunch because maybe then they won't be hungry later and won't eat dinner."
"The answer in this article says, 'No, that's good.....You can suggest with confidence that having a small snack midmorning or midafternoon is a good behavior."
However, the scientists still caution against consumption of chips, cakes, cookies and other snacks which were low on nutritive values and said that the stress should be on the consumption of healthy snacks.
