Nutritional Guidance Decreases the Prevalence of Frailty Among Older Caregivers

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of individually tailored dietary counseling on frailty status among older family caregivers (FC). This study is part of the LifEstyle, NutriTion, and Oral health in caregivers (LENTO) intervention study. There were a total of 113 participants, with a mean age of 74 years (SD 8.0). This randomized intervention included individually tailored nutritional guidance given by the clinical nutritionist at the baseline and at the 2-month visit and the intervention period was 6 months. At the baseline frailty prevalence was 68% (n = 43 out of 63) in the intervention group and 78% (n = 39 out of 50) in the control group. At the end of the 6-month intervention the prevalence in the intervention group had decreased to 41% (n = 24 out of 59) but remained stable in the control group with 79% (n = 37 out of 47). There was a significant difference in the change of the prevalence of frailty between the groups (P < 0.001). The intervention resulted in increased protein intake in the intervention group from 0.95 g/kg/d (SD 0.34) to 1.05 g/kg/d (SD 0.37) (P = 0.003). The results suggest that frailty among older caregivers can be decreased with personalized nutritional guidance.