Invited Talk ESA-SRB-ANZBMS 2024 in conjunction with ENSA

Training Aged Care Food Service Staff to Create Bone Healthy Menus (#29)

Sandra Iuliano 1
  1. University of Melbourne / Austin Health, Ascot Vale, VIC, Australia

Rates of falls and fractures are highest in older adult living in aged care homes compared to any other group in the community. These older adults also have inadequate protein and calcium intakes, and 68% are malnourished or at risk of malnutrition. We undertook a 2-year food-based intervention involving over 7000 older adults living in 60 aged care homes to determine if correcting protein and calcium inadequacies in residents would reduce fractures. Residents in 30 intervention homes were provided with more milk, yoghurt and cheese on the menu and achieved an average intake of 3.5 servings daily. Residents in 30 control homes continued consuming from their regular menus that provided 2 or less servings of dairy foods daily. Intervention was associated with a 33% reduction in fractures, a 46% reduction in hip fractures, an 11% reduction in falls, and maintenance of weight, appendicular lean mass and nutritional status. The intervention was delivered through the food service where staff were supported to include more milk, yoghurt and cheese on the menu in line with resident preferences, available kitchen equipment and their culinary skill levels. The learnings from the intervention have been developed into a Bone Health Food Service Training program, designed to upskill staff to create menus that contain 4 or more servings of dairy food daily in line with the levels achieved during the intervention. We are assessing the efficacy of the Bone Health Training Program in 8 aged care homes compared to 8 control homes that will continue with their usual menus. The primary outcome is a 15% increase in protein intake. Secondary and exploratory outcomes include improvements in food service satisfaction, quality of life and nutritional status and a decline in supplement use in residents. Aged care chefs completed questionnaires and focus group testing to determine barriers and enablers to improving calcium and protein intakes in residents, and acceptance of the training program with assessments repeated at the end of the 3-month intervention period. Primary and secondary outcomes will be assessed in at least 10 residents per aged care home (n ³ 80 per group). If the training program is efficacious, it will be made available to all aged care chef in Australia and potentially abroad and so contribute to reducing falls and fractures in older adults living in aged care homes.