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Elderly people across the world could soon find their hospital meals are tastier - thanks to a pioneering partnership between the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Reading. The project has won a Research into Ageing grant worth £141,000 which will fund world leading research into how the taste of ordinary food can be manipulated so it appeals more to the taste buds of elderly people. At least 60% of elderly people admitted to hospital are malnourished - the effects of drugs, being unwell and just getting older all lead to changes in the way food tastes to elderly people. Professor Margot Gosney, Consultant in Elderly Care at the Royal Berkshire Hospital, Dr Lisa Methven, a Research Fellow in Food Biosciences at the University of Reading, Professor Don Mottram from the Department of Food Biosciences and Dr Orla Kennedy who lectures in Public Health Nutrition at the University, have embarked on a three-year study into ways of helping older people to enjoy the taste of their food again. TV celebrity chef, Heston Blumenthal - owner of the Fat Duck at Bray in Berkshire which is one of only three UK restaurants to be awarded three Michelin Stars - will then advise the team how the results of the research can be turned into hospital meals. Professor Margot Gosney said: "As you get older your taste threshold alters - that's why elderly people often use a lot of salt on their food. Medication can also affect taste and your appetite goes when you are ill - just the time when you need nutrition the most. "What is now happening in Reading will potentially change nutrition for hospital patients all over the world." Hospitals have found that elderly patients often fail to finish their normal meals or cartons of high protein sip feed, simply because they don't like the flavour. Not consuming enough calories can have a direct impact on wound healing, recovery from infection and returning to good health. Most people are more enthusiastic about eating if they like the taste of the food. The research team say that in general young males like the taste of strawberry sip feeds but as they get older they tend to prefer vanilla flavour. Professor Gosney added: "It will come as little surprise to learn that generally women of all ages like the flavour of chocolate in the sip feeds." The study will try to find ways that meals and sip feeds can be produced with a taste that makes older people want to eat and drink them. Dr Lisa Methven explained: "At the Department of Food Biosciences we are experts in the areas of both food science and nutrition. We have a wealth of knowledge on how to manipulate flavour in food products - by understanding the flavour formation pathways and the interactions of food ingredients with cooking conditions. "It has already been proved that flavour enhancement of food can increase food intake of elderly undernourished people. One of the basic tastes, 'umami' is known to have substantial effects on the enhancement of savoury foods. We aim to enhance the flavour of hospital food for elderly people by applying our knowledge to real meals, aiming to make systematic and controllable changes." |
