“Old people at home are particularly vulnerable to a poor diet, and they are also at risk in hospitals and residential homes, where a lack of resources and staff time means that they do not always get well fed. Malnutrition leads to lower physical strength, greater inactivity, a higher risk of accidents, a weaker immune system, and osteoporosis. Poor vision, macular degeneration, and cataracts are all also now being linked to diets low in fruits and vegetables and antioxidants” (bmj.com)
After entering the later stages of life some people start to find it difficult to go places, this could affect the food they eat if they live in a rural village. This is because, often in rural villages there is normally only a small shop, if buses are irregular and there is no one to help them get around it will be very hard to find affordable nutritious food on a regular basis.
As common as it is for teenagers to suffer from eating disorders it occurs in the elderly too but whereas teenagers normally suffer from it because of body perception disorders as explained here the elderly often suffer due to stress and illness
“A spokesman for the British Nutrition Foundation says: "As a person gets older, they tend to eat less because they become less active and there is a fall in their basal metabolic rate, the energy needed for processes such as breathing and digesting food. "Arthritis can make it difficult to prepare food and some people may lose interest in food if they live alone, have difficulty shopping or have financial problems. "The physical effects of ageing alter the efficiency of many body processes. The ability to digest, absorb, metabolize and excrete nutrients decreases with age, though it varies between individuals. For this reason it is difficult to make specific dietary recommendations for this group." (guardian.co.uk)
Poor nutrition in some elderly could be due to illness like arthritis that stops them getting around or just down to stress through finances, bills or bereavement, not all of the elderly have poor diets but it is an area that the government are looking to improve, especially as many elderly are living longer and may experience greater health problems towards the end of their lives.
It has been suggested that the nutrition of the elderly is especially poor and that not enough is being done to make it any better, just because people are older and frailer doesn’t mean that they have to suffer (see newspaper article daily express 11/12/07). Some people’s eating habits who are in the later stages of life get a lot worse for example anorexia but I do not thing that enough time or effort has been placed into caring properly for these people because too many people pass by and do not care.
For children nutrition is very important, what they eat influences the way they develop for the rest of their life, so it is important that they have a healthy balanced diet.
One factor that influences the nutrition of infants is the socioeconomic status of their caregiver (s). Professionals have a better financial status and therefore can ensure that materially their child will not go without basic needs such as food. People that belong to the lower classes may struggle financially to raise a child healthily, and if they manage this it sometimes means that parents may go without.
“Laura Macarthur, 22, a single mother, lives in Huddersfield with her one-year-old son, Camden. She is unemployed and surviving on benefits: “I don’t manage to pay all the bills. With it getting so cold now we need the heating on more; it’s very difficult. Sometimes I run out of gas or electricity because I haven’t been able to top up the meter.”
(ukwatch.net)
If people have less money that affects the type of food that they are able to buy. Healthy food is often more expensive than food that is high in fat and calories
“Calorie for calorie, junk foods not only cost less than fruits and vegetables, but junk food prices also are less likely to rise as a result of inflation. The findings, reported in the current issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, may help explain why the highest rates of obesity are seen among people in lower-income groups.”
(worldhealth.net)
Consequently this will lead to people who are on a smaller budget heading for unhealthy food because its cheaper, and people with more money will be the ones who feed their children nutritionally healthy food.
Children are constantly growing and because of this their needs vary, education of the parents is what is needed to make sure that their children do not suffer because of ignorance. For example babies need milk because their bones are still growing and calcium helps to prevent rickets, children need lots of carbohydrates because they are full of energy and that’s what helps children grow.
A child’s personal preference can be a factor in what influences their nutrition. If the first foods that a child eats is processed food then that is what their palate will get used to, and this type of food is what they will like. Consequently when children are introduced to other types of food their palate will gradually expand
“Palate training goes beyond this, and teaches your child to taste, recognise and appreciate good food. For example, when your baby rejects a new taste or texture, it’s easy to give up, but it can actually take 10-14 tastes before a food is accepted. And studies show that the earlier lots of tastes are introduced, the more willing a child is to eat a wide variety of foods later on – and that’s the key to a healthy diet. “
(thegoodfoodvillagetrust.co.uk/)
Some children in the world may have a poor nutritional diet, but some children hardly eat at all. Countries like “South Asia, Bangladesh, India and Pakistan account for half of all the world's underweight children. About 47% of under-fives in India are underweight. In total, 27% of children under five in developing countries do not have enough to eat - around 146 million.”(news.bbc.co.uk). If a child is under nourished it encourages conditions such as marasmus and kwashiorkor, these are linked to malnutrition and can be fatal if not treated.
Whilst at school children like to be like their friends, so they are not treated any differently, sometimes people can do things they wouldn’t do otherwise because of peer pressure.
“Peer pressure is the pressure an individual feels to conform to the ways of a social group, into which he/ she wants to be accepted. Peer pressure can exist in children as young as two years of age -- they will simply do things because other kids are doing them, and to 'fit in'. (rediff.com)
If all of a child’s friends at school are eating one thing that happens to be unhealthy, then that is what they are going to want to eat.
Children are the most vulnerable people when it comes to nutrition because they tend not to have the awareness or the ability to be educated past their age so they need someone else to look out for them. As a basic need everyone should be entitled to eat healthily but the developing world has too many debts and it can only be hoped that one day everyone will be treated fairly and equally.