ABSTRACT

Nutrition is a fundamental pillar of human life, health and development across the entire life span which why this study determined the nutritional risk factors in older persons from different age groups in Okpe Local Government Area of Delta State, Nigeria. Simple random sampling was used to select 180 respondents. A structure questionnaire was used to elicit information on the respondent’s socioeconomic characteristics and food habit variables. Anthropometric characteristics and nutrition risks were assessed and compare with WHO and MNA reference standards. The date collected were analysed using descriptive statistics and chi square analysis.   The result revealed that 14.9% of the older person had normal weight, 45.9%  had overweight and 39% were obese, majority (79.4%) of the adult had normal waist circumference, while one fifth of the ( 20.6%) of the respondent are risk of been overweight and 72.4% of the older person had normal waist-Hip Ratio and 27.6% were at risk of been obese. the result  also revealed that most (42.4%) of the older person of 60-69 years were at risk of malnutrition, for 70-79 years age group, more than half (58%) of them were malnourished and for 80years and above age group, most(60%) of them was malnourished. The result revealed that the frequency of the dairy food consumption was significantly associated with waist circumference (p=0.04), drinks consumption also has statistically significance associated with the body mass index (BIM) of the older person in the study area and vegetable consumption has statistically significantly associated with body mass index (P=0.04) of the older persons inth3e study area. However, the study confirmed that malnutrition remains a common problem among older persons living in Okpe Local Government Area of Delta State. It is recommended amongst others that older persons should balance their food intake with physical activity. The more active they are, the more food they need. They should also keep an eye on their meal portion size, if they are less active, they should choose smaller serving sizes and add plenty of vegetables, salad and fruit.