Old Age Health: Why do old people have less appetite? Know what could be the reasons...

Loss Of Appetite In the Elderly: With aging, some elderly people feel less hungry. Lack of appetite in the elderly can also lead to nutritional deficiencies. Lack of nutrients can increase the attack of disease and infection. Due to the lack of essential vitamins and minerals, the immunity of the body also decreases and the person becomes vulnerable to diseases. Although it is a natural thing to lose appetite with aging, lack of appetite in some elderly people can be a sign of a problem.

Talking about common people, people feel the problem of loss of appetite due to the change of season. Appetite also decreases due to stress. Loss of appetite due to pain or illness. But there can be other reasons behind the lack of appetite in the elderly, about which we will know further. For better information on this subject, we spoke to Dr. Seema Yadav, MD Physician, Care Institute of Life Sciences, Lucknow.

Senility
The elderly who have problems like Alzheimer's, neck cancer, thyroid, throat infection, etc., feel less hungry. Changes in the sense of smell and taste in older people may result in loss of appetite. Lack of appetite can be a problem in old people due to a weak digestive system.

Drug side effects
People who consume more drugs may have a loss of appetite. The elderly have multiple problems for which they take many medicines. Loss of appetite can occur as a side effect of medicines. Dehydration can also cause loss of appetite in the elderly.

Does not eat due to pain
If an old person's ability to eat has decreased, find out if the pain is the cause. Even in pain, the person does not feel hungry. This happens due to problems related to oral health or teeth in old people. If there has been any treatment recently and the person is coming out of pain, then also he may have a problem with loss of appetite.

What to do to increase appetite?
To increase the appetite of an elderly person, consult a nutritionist or dietician. Give food to the elderly only by sitting with you. This will fix their eating time and they will be able to enjoy more food with everyone. To overcome the lack of appetite, you can include celery in their diet. Ajwain helps in improving digestion. Consuming one teaspoon of carom seeds with a glass of lukewarm water helps in increasing appetite. Along with this, include fresh fruits and juices in the diet of the elderly. It will also be easy for the elderly to consume fruit and vegetable juices and there will be no shortage of nutrients in their body.