DIET4Elders

DIET4Elders addresses the problem of malnutrition in older adults caused by their unhealthy self-feeding habits. Recent studies have shown that in Europe more than 15% of the older population is affected by poor nutrition caused by the problems of ageing such as decrease in sensitivity, poor dental health, lack of transportation, physical difficulty, forgetfulness and other issues.
The objective of Diet4Elders is to improve the older adult’s quality of everyday life, reduce the risk of malnutrition and eventually the negative effects of malnutrition including exacerbation of chronic and acute diseases, speeding up the development of degenerative diseases, delaying recovery from illness and so forth.
Diet4Elders is aimed at tackling the problem of malnutrition in specific target groups namely:
(i) Older adults living in care homes for which recent statistics say that over 60% of cases are affected by malnutrition
(ii) Older adults living at home for which statistics say that over 15% are affected by malnutrition.
More specifically, the DIET4Elders system collects data regarding the older adult’s self-feeding activities and the context in which these activities took place followed by data analysis, with the goal of assessing the older adults’ diet and of identifying behavioural patterns that are usually associated with unhealthy eating that may lead to malnutrition. The resulting knowledge, after data analysis, will be made available for end-users by especially developed support services to provide custom user-experience and user-adaptable assisting functionality. This knowledge is also used to select and combine the appropriate food ordering services that will provide the right combination of food that will match both the users’ needs and wishes, and their recommended diet.
To address the project goals the consortium brings together partners with specific expertise in the following domains: information and computer technology, telecare, nutrition and clinically informed diet for older adults.
The project success will subsequently help to reduce homecare, healthcare, and other associated costs, which in Europe are currently estimated around 170 billion euro per year. To ensure its robustness and usability, the DIET4Elders system will pilot its developed software and hardware infrastructure in end-user environments under strict ethical and confidentiality procedures.