Eat With Your Elders and They'll Eat More

Sharing a meal can stimulate the appetite -- particularly among hospitalized seniors, University of Montreal researchers found.

The study, published in The Gerontologist, found the more social interaction occurs at mealtimes in hospital geriatric re-adaptation units the better food intake will be.

Danielle St-Arnaud McKenzie, who conducted the study with Professor Marie-Jeanne Kergoat, Professor Guylaine Ferland and Laurette Dube of McGill University, said most patients suffer from nutritional deterioration during hospitalization.

"Approximately 35 percent of elderly people suffer from malnutrition," Kergoat said in a statement. "That's a scary estimate when we consider that nutrition tends to deteriorate during hospitalization."

St-Arnaud McKenzie observed some 30 patients during mealtimes at the re-adaptation unit of the Institut universitaire de geriatrie de Montreal, affiliated with the University of Montreal.

Using an evaluation grid, the researchers measured their verbal and non-verbal behaviors. By observing these patients at mealtimes St-Arnaud McKenzie calculated the level of conviviality.

The researchers said that the results were clear -- there was a correlation between food intake and social interaction -- patients ate more when social interactions were friendly and lively.