Home-delivered Meal-Participants may be at Greater Risk of Malnutrition Without the Meal Program
Abstract Objectives: 1) Examine total quality of foods consumed on the day a home-delivered meal (HDM) of the Older Americans Act Nutrition Program (OAANSP) was served, and when a HDM was not served, 2) Estimate proportion of HDM participants and non-participants meeting the daily average recommendations for guidance-based foods and nutrients. Design: cross-sectional study. Participants: Adults aged 67 years and older (n=1227), 620 HDM recipients, and 607 matching non-participants, examined in three groups; 1) meal recipients who received a HDM on the day of the 24-hr dietary recall; 2) no meal-recipients who did not receive a HDM on the day of the recall; and 3) matching HDM non-participants. Setting: Data was obtained from the national 2015-17 Outcomes Evaluation Study of HDM participants in the US. Results: Healthy Eating Index (HEI) -2010 scores of HDM participants were significantly lower on the day the meal was not received compared to when a meal were received (52.5 vs. 63.4, p<0.0001). There was no significant difference in the total HEI-2010 scores of HDM meal-recipients and HDM non-participants. Despite the meal, less than 20% of HDM participants and non-participants met the 2010-Diet Guidelines for Americans (DGA) recommended average daily intake for fruit, vegetables, dairy, protein foods and solid fats. Conclusion: HDM participants’ diet quality is poorer when they do not receive a meal putting them at increased risk of malnutrition. Expanding the OAANSP to offer meals on weekends and/or to include more than one meal per day is recommended to improve the diet of this vulnerable population.