A Survey on the Pattern of Food Consumption in the Elderlyin Amirkola, Babol

The old age includes some progressive and irreversible biological changes, in which appropriate food choice and habits play crucial role in body and mind health and prevention of diseases. The aim of present study is to investigate the food consumption pattern among Amirkola elderly people. This study performed in cross-sectional methods on 1017 elderly people, over 60 years old in Amirkola. The needed data is obtained through 3 questionnaires which include demographic data, food frequency and anthropometric questionnaires that are conducted by trained experts through face to face interview. : In this survey 59.3% were men and 40.7% were women. Average, median and mode of age the people under study were seventy. 9.2% were overweight and 41.6% were under weight. The most consumed food within a month was bread and rice, and the least one was red meat and sweats. There was a significant relationship between sex and age with body mass index (p=0.002 and p= 0.001, respectively). According to the findings of this investigation, food habits improvement and appropriate exercise in this period are needed for raising the life quality of elderly that should be considered in state planning.