Cater with Care
Tasty and effective nutrition for elderly. Increasing protein intake.
In the Cater with Care® project (GO/EFRO 2011-016066-251111) key partners in the food chain, care organizations and nutrition sciences worked together on food innovation. Driven by insights from consumers and health care professionals, the mission was to develop, test and implement food and drinks for specific target groups before, during and after hospital treatment. Nutrition & Healthcare Alliance noticed this issue and initiated the project.
The goal of this Cater with Care® project was to increase protein intake by older adults with or at risk of undernutrition. This was done by developing a variety of tasty, high-protein and protein-enriched foods and drinks and evaluating new meal services. Nutritional claims will be based on food composition analyses of the food chemistry lab of the Division of Human Nutrition at Wageningen University; health claims on human intervention studies performed in those target groups.
Results
The studies performed in Cater with Care® show that protein- enriched familiar products, as replacement of regular products or as additions to the hospital menu, are easily accepted and enable older adults to reach protein intake recommendations.
Undernutrition
Undernutrition is a serious health issue among Dutch elderly. Recent study results show that 1 in 6 older adults receiving home care are undernourished. In residential care homes and hospitals, 1 in 5 older adults are undernourished and 1 in 3 are at risk of developing undernutrition.