Serious nutritional deficiencies, obesity plague Greek elderly
ATHENS, March 30 (Xinhua) — A combination of bad diet and too little exercise has led to the destruction of muscle in many of Greece’s over-60s, exposing them to health risks like obesity, osteoporosis and impaired mobility, said a study available here on Friday.
According to survey presented by the research program ” Archimedes” carried out by Thessaloniki Technological Education Institute(TEI), 70 percent of Greek women and 40 to 45 percent of Greek men in that age group suffer from protein deficiencies.
Low protein intake that causes destruction of muscles is further compounded by excessive consumption of saturated fats that cause overweight, with 30 percent of elderly people considered overweight and 70 to 80 percent having increased concentration of abdominal fat, which is a high risk factor for cardiovascular disease.
The program was run by TEI in collaboration with the head of the Ippokration Hospital Geriatrics Unit Dimitris Economidis.
According to Kalliope Kleftour, head of Thessaloniki TEI Dietetics Department, the solution was not to reduce the quantity of food consumed but to eat foods with higher dietary value. He said that 14 percent of elderly Greeks showing signs of senility have a significant shortage of the vitamin, while in 50 percent of patients B12 is at low levels.
(c) 2007 Xinhua News Agency – CEIS. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.
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