Beverage consumption in chilean older adults

Introduction: Good hydration of the elderly, in addition to optimal health, allows a good function of nutrient transport and fluid balance. Objective: To characterize the consumption of water and liquids in Chilean elderly. Methods: Descriptive study, conducted in autonomous elderly, of both sexes. Participants were selected for convenience in the Metropolitan Region. To each one a nutritional evaluation was carried out, based on anthropometric measures and a quantified and adapted consumption survey was applied to determine the fluid intake. Results: They were evaluated at 539 elderly, 53.4% correspond to women, the average age is 70.9 +/- 6.4 years, and 54.9% of them have excess malnutrition by excessive calories intake. Regarding the consumption of liquids, the average is 1656.2 ml / day, the highest consumption corresponds to tea with 89.4%, followed by 62.7% milk and 58.6% carbonated drinks. Regarding the differences by sex, women have a higher consumption of coffee, carbonated drinks, milk and water, and in the case of men, a higher consumption of tea. The consumption of milk and herbal water is higher in elderly over 80 years of age. Conclusions: The average of liquid consumption of elderly is lower than recommended, the liquids most consumed by them to hydrate are tea, juices, mate, drinking water, milk and carbonated drinks.