Older adults face a heightened risk of chronic diseases due to physiological changes, functional decline, and dietary imbalances. Although nutrition education can enhance dietary habits, its influence on physical activity is less clear. This study, conducted at the Seongnam Senior Industry Innovation Center in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea, assessed the effects of group-based nutrition education on 24 adults aged 65 and older (10 men, and 14 women; mean age 76.08 years). Participants engaged in a 12-week program that focused on hypertension, dyslipidemia, diabetes, and nutrition management. Anthropometric measurements, physical activity capacity, and dietary intake were evaluated before and after the intervention. Results showed significant reductions in body weight (p=0.038) and waist circumference (p=0.003), while BMI, body fat, and blood pressure remained unchanged. Appendicular skeletal muscle mass, muscle mass index, and right-hand grip strength decreased. Dietary fiber intake saw a slight increase, while cholesterol intake decreased significantly (p=0.007). Waist circumference decreased in both the groups consuming less than 300 mg and those consuming 300 mg or more of cholesterol. Overall, group-based nutrition education led to improvements in dietary habits and anthropometric outcomes, but did not enhance physical activity levels. Combining nutrition education with structured exercise may be more effective in promoting muscle strength and functional health in older adults.

This study was conducted to measure the effect of a community-based nutritional intervention program on dietary behaviors and nutrient intakes of low-income elderly women in Korea. The subject of the study was a group of 88 elderly women using the free meal service in Dong-gu, Gwangju city in Korea. The study was carried out from April to July 2009, and the pretest, application of nutrition education, and post-test were applied in each stage. This community-based nutrition intervention program consisted of snack supplement and nutrition education provided three times a week and 36 times in total. The nutrition education was led by the nutritionists and professionals using various educational media. Snack supplement included were milk, soymilk, carrot juice, bread, yogurt, and bananas. The result of pretest showed that the nutrient intakes of the subjects were much below the Recommended Nutrient Intake (RNI) level of Dietary Reference Intake for Koreans. Comparison of the dietary behavior score and nutrient intakes before and after the nutritional intervention program indicated that the food behavior score increased from 3.1 to 5.6 (P<0.001) and intake of energy, protein, carbohydrate, thiamin, niacin, vitamin C, iron, and potassium of the subjects all increased significantly (P<0.05). Mean Adequacy Ratio (MAR) of their nutrient intakes was also improved from 0.53 to 0.64 (P<0.01). These results indicated that the nutrition intervention program conducted in this study was effective in improving dietary behavior and nutrient intakes of elderly women in local community.