The Relationship between Dietary Behaviors/health Risk Factors and Preference for Salty Taste among Korean Elderly People Living in Rural Areas / 대한지역사회영양학회지

OBJECTIVES: Increasing salt preferences with age are said to increase preferences of salty foods, thereby leading to greater sodium consumption, which has further implication for hypertension. This study examined the link between preference of salty taste and dietary factors and health-related risk factors in Korean elderly people. METHODS: We studied 312 elderly individuals aged > 65 years (male, 100 and female, 212). With each subject, pleasant concentration of NaCl was estimated using the sipand-spit method. Dietary habits, food preferences, consumption frequencies, anthropometric and biochemical assessment were assessed. RESULTS: The pleasant salt concentration was significantly increased in individuals older than 75 years (p < 0.05). Subjects who liked high concentration of salt showed significantly higher preferences for salty foods (p < 0.001). Results showed significant effects (p < 0.01) of fruit & fruit juice consumption frequencies, MNA (mini-nutritional assessment), cognition score, BMI, body fat %, waist circumference, arm circumference, calf circumference, vitamin D level that subjects who likes low salty taste were higher than subjects who likes high salty taste. CONCLUSIONS: The preference for salty taste in the elderly was not correlated with hypertension. But, increased preference for salty taste with age and increased salty food preferences may result in higher sodium consumption. Therefore, nutritional education regarding lowering salt preference and favorable behaviors of low-salt diet is needed to improve the quality of life in the rural elderly.

Association between Preferences of Salty Food and Acuity and Preferences of Taste of the Elderly People Living in Rural Area / 대한지역사회영양학회지

The purpose of the study was to investigate the influence of salt (NaCl) recognition threshold and pleasant salt concentrations of Korean rural elderly subjects on preference of salty food as well as food group consumption patterns. The subjects were 213 elderly people (male 71 and female 142) over 65 and under 90 yr of age from Sunchang area. The higher values were found with male subjects in the areas of basic taste recognition threshold and pleasant concentration level of salt. The taste sensitivity scores of male subjects did not decrease with the increasing age, but female subjects exhibited a significant decrease with the age. The major determinant factor of salt preference of the elderly subjects in this study appeared to be personal pleasant concentration of salt rather than salt recognition threshold level and this trend was more evident in males than in females. The subject group of lower salt pleasant concentration i.e. consuming less salt showed the higher number of fruit and fruit juice intakes per week, and higher MNA (define this) scores were implying that they display more desirable nutritional status. Therefore, nutritional education focused on not only a variety of food consumption but also lowering pleasant salt concentration levels is advised to improve the quality of nutrition in the elderly.