Why Elderly People Don't Eat

Proper nutrition is vital to your parent for maintaining health, retaining and building bone mass and, importantly, to enable medications to work effectively in the body -- and possibly with fewer side effects.

But, what if Mom or Dad won't eat whether properly, or won't eat enough? This creates an added challenge to you as caregiver. There may be valid reasons that your parent may shy away from dining. As the caregiver, you want to uncover the reasons why your parent is not eating, and try to address the underlying issues. Here are 10 reasons why seniors sometimes don't eat properly, according to the National Institutes of Health and its National Institute on Aging, plus augmented in one-on-one-interviews of professional caregivers.

1. Reduction in Senses of Smell and Taste

Dining involves many senses: aromas, colors and tastes in one's mouth; but many mature adults experience a lessening of the senses of smell and sense of taste in their aging process. There is a reduction in the experience that, in turn, lessens the personal desire for food. There is no magic pill to restore full senses of smell and taste.

As caregiver and chief cook, you can alter your recipes, switching from typical spices used in the past or as used by your parent in his or her own cooking, to herbs and spices with a bit more zing, and that introduce a new, added flavor to the dish.

2. Reduction in Sense of Sight

Cataracts and other conditions in the eyes can reduce your parent's visual perception of the meal servings, thereby reducing the image to "blurr."

You can easily enhance the visual representation by increasing the food colors on the plate, separating them so that the colors are defined and easily perceived. Consider a main course with a colorful topping, a multi-colored salad, red potatoes, or orange carrots. Of course, vary the plate presentation by the day, that is, unless your parent really responds to one or two of your designer presentations. In this way you can reach effectively through to the remaining sense of vision.

3. Medications

Some medications have side effects that can change your parent's sense of taste or make her or him less hungry. Ask your parent's doctor if the prescribed medications or medical treatments are causing loss of appetite, bad taste or no flavor.

Tasteless after Medication

The physician may be able to substitute with a different medication, or prescribe an added medication to correct the problem.

4. Constipation

A side effect of many prescription drugs is constipation, a most uncomfortable conditionwhere the patient claims to have no room left for additional food. The first step to solution is to reduce the incidence of constipation.

Consider increasing the amount of water your parent drinks throughout the day and the percentage of food that will actually help the functioning of your parent's elimination system. With the proper diet and nutrition, the water will help clear the digestion system and, therefore, the volume of food retained in the stomach.

5. Problems with Chewing

If your parent has trouble chewing, he or she may have a teeth or gum problem or, if wearing dentures, the appliances may need to be adjusted. Advise your Mom or Dad's dentist about the chewing problem so that the specialist can check and correct the teeth, gums or dentures.

Chewing problems can often be resolved by eating softer foods. This can be resolved by replacing raw vegetables and fresh fruits with cooked vegetables or juices. Good nutrition can also be found in foods like applesauce and canned peaches or other fruits.

Ground or shredded meats are typically easy to chew or, in lieu of meat, consider soft foods such as cooked, dry beans, eggs, tofu, tuna fish and such.

6. Dining Alone 

A meal is often enjoyed more when the event is shared with another person or a group. Try to share at least one of the meals each day with your parent so you can visit, talk about a new or adjusted recipe, or discuss events and outings.

Recruit other family members, friends and neighbors to join Mom or Dad regularly for lunch or dinner. Recommend that they visit with your parent on any subject other than illness or limitation, and that they ask questions to help Mom or Dad retain and even expand mental agility and ability. Anticipating the visit will surely entice your parent the dining table.

Research local "meal events," such as lunch at the Senior Center. The meal will be healthy, and your parent can visit with other mature adults in a communal setting. Your local Area Agency on Aging can provide the sites and contact information, plus if volunteer drivers or specialized transit services are available for transportation.

7. Lack of Knowledge/Motivation

Draw Mom or Dad into the plan:

• "Mom/Dad, if we can make sure you have proper nutrition, we can reduce the side effects of your medication; 
• We can help your medications work better; 
• You will probably feel better; 
• We can celebrate our mutual life together for far longer. 

If your parent understands the vital role of nutrition in her or his life, and agrees with the approach, you have a partner for all the right reasons.

In this step, offer a positive comment at least once each day to your parent that "with your proper nutrition, we have taken another giant step forward in your health and independence."

8. Unwillingness to Cook 

If you can't prepare all the meals, call for help. There may be a Meals that can be order and deliver to you right at your door step. Your parent then only needs to heat the meal as recommended, and then dine in style.

If you have time, you can treat her or him to lunch or dinner in a restaurant to enhance the dining experience. The meal will probably be prepared and seasoned differently than your own recipe. Continue to focus on the healthy foods in the diet program. Dining out will also give you a break from your kitchen chores.

9. The Last Resort if Your Elderly Mom or Dad Still Won't Eat

Proper nutrition is vital for your parent. If all of the above fail to work, seek the counsel of your parent's physician. Forced feeding may be the only alternative, and the doctor may direct your parent to a hospital for forced feeding combined with examinations to determine if he or she has any physical reason for declining food, and then treating or correcting the cause.

As caregiver, your nutrition mission is important. You can, indeed, ensure that your Mom or Dad is in the best possible and functional health.

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Is It Bad for Your Health to Hold in a Fart?

Even though we all know farting is a fact of life, but it's not exactly something you want to do in polite company—or even in front of someone who knows all your flaws, like your significant other. As an alternative, maybe you hold it in for hours until you're alone and can get the sweet, sweet release of letting it all out. It's a normal urge, but can keeping your gas bottled tight screw with your system? 

Oppsies.. Sorry~

Here’s What You Need to Know. 

When your body tries to get rid of gas buildup, it'll either do so via a belch that leaves your mouth or flatulence that escapes from your rectum. Burping is often a result of "air aphasia," a.k.a. eating air. "Some people tend to swallow more air when they talk or chew gum,” says Lisa Ganjhu, a doctor of osteopathy and a clinical assistant professor of medicine and gastroenterology at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City. “That air collects in their stomachs before eventually coming out, usually as a burp."

Unlike burping, farting causes are a little less straightforward. "Sometimes bacteria or food ferment in the stomach, leading to acidity and gas," says Ganjhu. Food issues like lactose or gluten intolerance can also turn you into a tooting machine. Even if your tummy can handle milk and wheat like a pro, cruciferous vegetables like broccoli and asparagus contain fructans, carbohydrates that are a little tougher to digest and can lead to more gas as your body tries to break them down, says Ganjhu.

Normal Bacteria in stomach

So Can You Just Hold It In?

Breathe a sigh of relief: Chances are highly unlikely it'll seriously affect your health, says Ganjhu. But try as you might, if your body wants to get rid of some extra air, it's going to happen eventually. "You pass gas 10 to 20 times a day, often without even realizing it,” she says. “It's a normal byproduct of your digestion of food." Sure, while you're focused on clenching your buns together like it's the last rep of barre class, you might manage to keep everything inside. But as soon as you get distracted, the floodgates will probably open. "As you're walking and going about your business, your body will pass the air," says Ganjhu.

Having it too heavy

That being said, the only real exception to the "holding in your farts won't seriously injure you" rule is people who have severe obstructions in their colons. "In that case, the colon blows up like a balloon because of the blockage,” says Ganjhu. “If there are any weaknesses in the walls, eventually it can burst." Although that paints a frighteningly vivid picture, there's no real reason to be worried, says Ganjhu; that kind of thing only happens with critically ill patients, and even then, it's rare. 

Bloating

And although holding in your gas won't actually harm you, it can still make you feel like a sausage in too-tight casing. "Your digestive tract is like one of those big balloons clowns use to make animals,” says Ganjhu. “Anything that affects downstream will affect upstream.” What she means is any sort of air buildup lower in your gastrointestinal tract, like in your colon, will eventually push upward and cause bloating and discomfort around your midsection.

Your Farting M.O.

Your best bet is to excuse yourself to the restroom where you can relieve yourself in peace. Better now, when you expect it, than to have one squeak out in the middle of a meeting because you're trying to hold it in, right? If your goal is to cut down on your farting in the first place, try consuming more probiotics, which can help align the bacteria in your gut. "Fermented foods like yogurt, kimchi, and sauerkraut, are all good ways to get more probiotics, or you can try probiotic pills specifically for your digestive tract," says Ganjhu. 

And if you needed another reason to stay away from fake sweeteners, here you have it: "Fat-free and sugar-free sweeteners are full of non-absorbable sugars, which are non-digestible and come out as gas or diarrhea," says Ganjhu.

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4 Simple Ways To Help Keep Alzheimer's Out Of Your Future

Exercise, a good diet, and mental challenges are great for your brain individually. Together? They'll make you unstoppable, at least according to animal studies. Here, ranked from most-research-backed to least, are the things to focus on.

1. Exercise 3 hours a week.

You've experienced it yourself on a mind-clearing walk: Moving your body is freaking great for your brain, both now and years from now. Majid Fotuhi of NeurExpand recommends keeping your heart rate up for at least 20 minutes at a time. In one study, people who increased their three weekly walks from 10 to 40 minutes expanded their hippocampi by 2% after a year—the equivalent of getting 2 to 4 years younger above the neck. Exercise increases levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a protein that's essentially fertilizer for the brain.

2. Meditate 10 minutes a day.

Too much cortisol is hippocampal poison. Basic mindful meditation is an effective weapon against it (as is exercise). Fotuhi trains his patients to start with a simple 5-5-5 routine: Sit up straight, close your eyes, and inhale slowly for a count of 5, then exhale for a count of 5. Do this for 5 minutes. Stay with the count and the movement of your breath, even if your mind wanders. Practice this twice a day—or, if you're stressed all the time, 3 or 4 daily.

3. Get 1,500 mg of omega-3s daily.

Researchers studied 1,000 postmenopausal women, looking at their levels of two fatty acids found in fish, called eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA).

They found that women with significantly higher levels of the two fatty acids in their red blood cells also tended to have larger brains, and larger hippocampuses, the part of the brain associated with forming memories.

Fish for healthier brain

4. Memorize something every day.

Growing your brain might not be as simple as signing up for Lumosity—in fact, Fotuhi and a host of other neurologists find such arbitrary games to be ineffective—but making a habit of memorizing things will tone your hippocampi. Med students whose hippocampi were measured before and after they prepped for the boards substantially expanded their hippocampi after studying. 

A sport good for memories

People who learned to juggle (which is essentially memorization of physical movements) showed an increase in gray matter after 3 months. UCLA neurologist Gary Small recommends cross training, too. "Your brain loves variety," he says, so challenge it whenever you can. Increased social interaction helps, as does learning a new skill or language.

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Are Your Bad Habits Actually That Bad For Your Health?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know you shouldn't bite your nails or use with your iPhone right before you go to sleep, but chances are, you're going to keep doing these things anyway. So how bad is it? Let's take a look.

Crossing Your Legs

How bad is it? Don't stress over this one.

Forget the old wives tale about crossed legs causing varicose veins—whether you get those is based solely on heredity factors. And while crossing your legs can temporarily elevate blood pressure (which is why physicians often ask patients to keep their feet flat during checks) there are no long-term heart-health effects from sitting with your legs crossed. Instead of worrying about how you're sitting, you should be worried about how much you're sitting, says Deirdre Mattina, MD, member of the American College of Cardiology. Numerous studies have shown that prolonged sitting is associated with an increased risk of developing cancer and diabetes, among other health issues. "Basically, the more hours you sit, the quicker you die," says Mattina.

The fix: 

It's pretty much impossible to avoid sitting altogether, so Mattina suggests taking frequent walking breaks. If you're at the office, stroll over to someone's desk to chat instead of sending an email or simply set yourself a little reminder to get up and move every 30 minutes or so.

Biting Your Fingernails

How bad is it? It's not horrible, but it's also not harmless.

In addition to giving you funky-looking fingernails, nail biting can damage future nail growth. "Chronic nail biting can change the shape of the nail permanently so that they grow shorter and wider, making nails look stubby," says Dana Stern, MD, professor of dermatology at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York. That's because frequent nail-biters are constantly damaging their nail matrix, the delicate, soft-tissue structure that produces the hard nail. Biting can also lead to nail discoloration and infections from outside bacteria and yeast from the mouth.

The fix: 

Since nail biting is often linked to anxiety, finding out why you have the urge to nibble is the first step (working with a psychologist or psychiatrist may help). Then, Stern suggests dropping some cash on regular manicures. "If you keep them polished, you're investing in them and it makes you pause before you bite," says Stern. The only downside: chipped or peeling polish, which can trigger the urge to nibble or pick.

Cracking Your Knuckles

How bad is it? Not a big deal—unless you do it 24/7

The satisfying (or, to others, really gross) sound of a knuckle cracking is actually joint fluid moving around in your digits, meaning the popping sound you hear isn't doing any major damage, unless you're doing it incessantly. "If you do it constantly, you'll wear out the ligaments in your joints," says Leon Benson, MD, orthopedic specialist and spokesperson for the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons. Stretch out those ligaments too much and you could seriously impair their functioning, which could lead to arthritis.

The Fix: 

Chronic knuckle cracking is often linked to anxiety, so any type of treatment has to first begin with psychiatric help, says Benson. But for less intense or just occasional crackers, simply being more mindful of when you have the urge to crack and trying to stop yourself may be enough.

Texting (Or Facebooking Or Instagram Stalking) In Bed

How bad is it? You need to stop doing this—today

Smartphones are the grown-up equivalent of a security blanket, but taking it to bed with you isn't a good idea for your sleep schedule. "Cell phones emit a blue-green wavelength of light that's stimulating to us," says Diane Augelli, MD, assistant professor at the Weill Cornell Center for Sleep Medicine. That extra stimulation suppresses melatonin (a hormone your body produces to promote sleepiness), making it harder to fall asleep and stay asleep. What's more: chronic melatonin suppression could lead to an increased risk of breast, colorectal, and prostate cancers, according to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The Fix: 

"Ideally, you would just set your alarm before bed then not look at your phone again until the morning," says Augelli. Many experts go as far as to suggest turning off all electronics at least an hour before bed. Either way, it all comes down to willpower: "If you're worried about your sleep and your cell phone is impacting your sleep, you just have to make the choice to stay away from your phone," says Augelli.

Skipping Breakfast

How bad is it? It's not great.

On harried mornings, breakfast often feels like a luxury you just can't afford. But failing to break that overnight fast deprives your body of the fuel it needs to rev your metabolism and give you enough energy to start the day, says Alissa Rumsey, RD, spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Denying your body of that morning meal can also make you hungrier and more likely to overeat later in the day, and may even affect your concentration and memory. And if you skip breakfast on the regular, you could permanently slow down your metabolism, putting you at risk for issues like weight gain and diabetes.

The Fix: 

Use your weekends to prepare for the week. "Hard-boil a bunch of eggs, which are easy to grab in the morning, or stock up on containers of Greek yogurt with some nuts and fruit," says Rumsey. Smoothies are another easy solution—tossing dry ingredients into a blender the night before and adding liquid in the morning to blend cuts morning prep time in half . Still short on time? Stash some breakfast essentials at work—you'll still reap the same benefits of an immediate breakfast if you eat within an hour of waking.

Clearing Your Throat

How bad is it? Pretty bad

We usually clear our throats when we feel like something is stuck in it—totally normal during cold and flu season with the extra mucous created by sniffles and sneezes. But the problem with throat clearing is its habitual nature: "Throat clearing can become a vicious cycle; the more you do it, the more you want to do it," says Dale Tylor, MD, an otolaryngologist at the Washington Township Medical Foundation in Fremond, CA. And anytime you clear your throat, you're slamming your vocal cords together more forcefully than usual. "If you do that enough, you could get calluses or nodules on your vocal cords, which can significantly worsen your voice, making you very hoarse," says Tylor. Habitual throat-clearers could even develop a vocal cord hemorrhage, bleeding underneath the lining of the vocal cords, which requires speech therapy or surgery to heal.

 

The Fix: Each time you feel the urge to "ahem," take a sip of carbonated water, suggests Tylor. A a 2007 study that found 63% of throat-clearers noticed a reduction in their urges after sipping some ice-cold seltzer.

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5 Surprising Causes Of Alzheimer's Disease

It's happened to all of us: we forget where we parked our car or why we walked into a room. Some amount of forgetfulness is normal, especially when you're busy or have a lot on your mind. But for nearly five million Americans, that forgetfulness will progress into Alzheimer's disease.

Decades of research have shown that the buildup in the brain of toxic proteins, called beta amyloid and tau, can lead to Alzheimer's. What's less clear is what causes these proteins to accumulate. Some new studies have begun to explain this process, revealing that the causes of Alzheimer's disease go beyond genetics and unhealthy habits (though those are important factors, too). Here, some of the most unusual (and scary!) causes new science is pointing to.

• You're on Anti-Anxiety Medication.

A class of medications called benzodiazepines, which include the popular drugs lorazepam (Ativan), alprazolam (Xanax), and clonazepam (Klonopin), are frequently used to treat anxiety and insomnia. Although studies evaluating the safety and efficacy of these drugs have only evaluated their short term use (generally three months or so), many people take them long-term. A study published in the British Medical Journal followed 1,796 Canadians with Alzheimer's disease and 7,184 healthy controls for six years and found that taking benzodiazepines for more than three months was associated with up to a 51% increase in Alzheimer's disease.

The moral of the story? If you need benzodiazepines only on occasion, you're probably safe. If anxiety and insomnia are a regular issue for you, consider cognitive behavioral therapy, which has been found to effectively treat both conditions—without the harmful side effects of drugs.

• You've Hit your Head Too Many Times.

With an estimated 300,000 Americans getting a sports-related concussion each year, according to data from the University of Pittsburgh's Brain and Spine Injury Program, lots of us are familiar with the worries that can accompany a head injury. Most people recover without a hitch, but for others, the inflammation that helps to heal the damaged brain tissue becomes chronic. Here is where the potential links to Alzheimer's disease can be found, says Brian Giunta, MD, PhD, a psychiatrist and neuroscientist at the University of Southern Florida.

Cells in your brain called microglia play an important role in inflammation. "When the microglia are constantly in a pro-inflammatory state, they are less able to clear amyloid beta from the brain," Giunta says.

Without microglia to clear the misfolded proteins, it can build up in the brain and kill neurons. It's still not clear why the inflammatory process stays switched on in some people or how many cases of Alzheimer's disease are potentially linked with traumatic brain injury, Giunta says.

• You're Regularly Sleep-Deprived.

A lack of sleep has hit near-epidemic levels in recent years, as we attempt to juggle career, children, marriages, hobbies, and more. For lots of us, something's gotta give—and many of us choose to sacrifice shut-eye. Besides making you drowsy behind the wheel and giving you the midnight munchies, this sleep loss can also speed up the development of Alzheimer's disease, according to a study published in the Neurobiology of Aging.

"Sleep problems are common in people with Alzheimer's disease, but it wasn't clear whether this was cause or effect," says Domenico Praticò, MD, a pharmacologist and immunologist at Temple University in Philadelphia. In a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease, Praticò and colleagues found that letting these mice only sleep for four hours a night increased the amount of tau in their brains. It also altered learning and memory, as well as how well neurons were able to communicate with each other. Chronic sleep deprivation, Praticò explains, stresses the brain and body (which is why you may be so tired), which speeds up the harmful processes leading to Alzheimer's disease.

"Sleep deprivation is a form of chronic stress on the body. It's also the time when the brain gets rid of bad things," such as excess amyloid beta protein, Praticò said. 

• You're lonely.

Remaining engaged with friends and the broader community is part of what many of us consider the good life. It's good medicine, too. A study in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry identified links between loneliness and the development of dementia.

We often feel loneliness

The researchers found that feelings of loneliness in older adults gave them 1.63 times the odds of developing dementia during the three years of the study. Scientists still don't know what's driving this association, but the implications are clear: Staying connected is good for you.

We are waiting

• You have diabetes in your brain.

To neuroscientist Suzanne de la Monte, MD, of Brown University, Alzheimer's disease is really a metabolic disease that affects the brain. The links are so close that she has begun referring to Alzheimer's disease as Type 3 diabetes.

Brain cells use glucose as fuel, and insulin tells these cells to slurp up glucose in the blood. De la Monte's big insight was that brain cells can develop insulin resistance, just like other cells in the body.

"Any organ can be affected by insulin resistance," de la Monte says. "You can have it in the liver- we call that non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. If you get it in the kidney, we call it renal disease. If you get it in the brain, we call it Alzheimer's."

Her research over the past few years has revealed that this creates a toxic environment for the brain, leading to the harmful buildup of proteins and neuron death seen in Alzheimer's.

In addition to telling us more about how Alzheimer's can be prevented through healthy diet and exercise, it could also help potentially treat the disease. Preliminary studies have shown that inhaled insulin can help reduce symptoms of Alzheimer's dementia.

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Why You Need to Scrape Your Tongue Every Day

Even if you always brush and floss your teeth, you could still be skipping one very important oral hygiene routine: Cleaning your tongue. 

Failing to give this organ some love may kick-start gum disease, which is correlated with heart disease, says Pia Lieb, D.D.S., a cosmetic dentist in New York City. Perhaps more pressing: All that gunk trapped on your tongue can give you gnarly breath. 

The Fix: 

Head to the pharmacy and buy a hard, plastic tongue scraper. Avoid soft wristband models or the grooves on the back of your toothbrush. They simply aren’t strong enough, says Dr. Lieb.

In a pinch, a teaspoon should also get the job done, she says. Once you have your tool of choice, reach to the back of your tongue and rake through the fuzzy surface, or papillae, multiple times to bring any plaque, or a sticky film of food or bacteria, to the front. 

After thoroughly combing through your tongue, use a mouthwash that contains hydrogen peroxide to lift out any remaining matter and rinse it out. 

Do this routine twice a day, at night and especially in the morning. Anaerobic bacteria multiply in dark, moist, and warm conditions—like the environment of your mouth—when you’re sleeping, says Dr. Lieb.

Bonus benefit: 

A Belgian study found that tastes will appear stronger after only 2 weeks of cleaning your tongue. 

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The Amazing Way Exercise Appears To Fight Cancer Tumors Directly

Cancer patients are often advised to exercise, and it’s easy to understand why. A cancer diagnosis is life-shattering, so patients often fall into a deep depression, which makes recovery all the more difficult. Far better to challenge oneself with exercise goals, be they hitting a set minutes-per-week target or finishing a half marathon. Exercise can't guarantee anyone a recovery from cancer, but the opposite—depressed, inactive acceptance of one's condition—is almost certain to create a downward spiral.

This is the mostly psychological side of exercise and cancer. But are there also physical pathways by which exercise can improve cancer outcomes? Research published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute indicates that the answer is yes.

Kansas State University exercise physiologist Brad Behnke has been studying prostate-cancer tumor growth in rats that either exercise or are sedentary. As with humans, rats divert blood flow to the muscles when exercising. The result, in Behnke's research to date, is a 200% increase in tumor blood flow during exercise.

That sounds like it could be a bad thing, at least if more blood flow "fed" tumor growth, and accelerated metastasis (spread of the disease to other organs). However, the opposite is what occurs, according to Behnke.

"When a tumor lacks oxygen, it releases just about every growth factor you can think of, which often results in metastasis," he explained to Runner's World Newswire by email. "Simply speaking, the tumor says, 'I can't breathe here, so let's pick up and move somewhere else in the body.' "

When a tumor is bathed in oxygen, on the other hand, its activity tends to slow. In an earlier paper, Behnke demonstrated a 90% decrease in "tumor hypoxia" (low oxygen) among rats that engaged in long-term, moderate-intensity treadmill exercise. "As far as I know, this is the largest reduction in tumor hypoxia of any intervention, including drugs," he said.

Another study by a different group of researchers has shown that aerobic exercise can lead to "normalization of the tissue microenvironment in human breast tumors." In other words, exercise can help the tissue return to its pre-tumor state, or forestall development of a more aggressive and dangerous cancer.

In addition, greater blood flow and oxygen delivery to a tumor can potentially increase transport of cancer-fighting therapies to the tumor. For example, exercisers respond better to radiation treatments, Behnke said. Exercise increases blood flow by increasing blood pumping and pressure, and by decreasing blood vessel constriction.

Behnke's research has focused on low- to moderate-intensity exercise such as brisk walking or slow jogging, and human studies have not been conducted yet.

"There really aren't any negative effects to moderate-intensity exercise," he said. "Exercise improves the side effects of cancer and treatments, but what the exercise does to the tumor is likely beneficial as well."

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