Mohammadjavad Veisimiankali*, Tayebeh Mahvar and Mahvan Hemmati
Background and Aim: With the increase in the elderly population and the greater vulnerability of this group to diseases, the study of the elderly nutritional status is a necessary factor in health maintenance and disease prevention. Therefore, the present study deals with the role of nutrition in the health of the elderly.
Methods: This review with Persian keywords "nutrition", "health", "elderly" and "Iran" in the databases of Iran Scientific Information and Documentation Research Institute (ISIDRI) (Ganj system), Iranian publications database (Magiran), Academic Jihad database and english keywords "elderly", "health", "aged", "nutrition", "Iran" were performed in the databases "Google Scholar", "Pubmed", "Scopus" in the period of 2010 to 2021.
Results: Nutritional status has had positive and significant relationships with age, gender, marital status, education, income, body mass index, chronic and underlying diseases and mental disorders. The elderly are at risk of malnutrition, therefore nutritional screening as primary care in the elderly seems to be essential which can reduce the treatment and care costs and also improve their quality of life.
Conclusion: Nutritional screening as primary care in the elderly seems necessary that can reduce treatment and care costs as well as improve their quality of life.