Nutritional status of an institutionalized aged population.

The nutritional status of 146 elderly residents in a long-term care facility was evaluated using biochemical and anthropometric measures. The level of nursing care required and meal locale had no significant effect on the overall nutritional status of the residents. The biochemical data indicated three nutritional problems requiring treatment and follow-up: anemia, low vitamin B6 status, and reduced albumin levels. The incidence of these problems in other groups of elderly deserves further study. Six percent of the study population were anemic, with 13% having low serum folate, 6% with low transferrin saturation, and 31% with low TIBC values suggesting more than one factor involved in the anemia. Low vitamin B6 status was observed in 28% of the population. Whether this is due to poor intake, poor absorption, or both is not known. The percentage of residents with decreased albumin levels was slightly higher than that observed in other studies of the elderly, and may be related to the more advanced age of this population.

Urinary alkalinization and smoking cessation.

Previous studies have shown that large doses of a urinary alkalinizing agent reduced cigarette consumption spontaneously among smokers. After establishing a safe daily dose of an alkalinizing agent, sodium bicarbonate, its effect upon smoking cessation rates among 72 enrollees in a smoking cessation program was studied. In the first study, we determined that sodium bicarbonate (3900 mg per day) significantly increased urinary pH (from 6.0 to 6.7) and lowered titratable acidity. Ascorbic acid (1500 mg per day) had no effect of pH or acidity. In a second study, a group given sodium bicarbonate surpassed a placebo control group (who were given 1500 mg per day ascorbic acid) in total daily cigarette reduction after 5 weeks and in week-to-week smoking reduction. The groups did not, however, differ in the number who achieved total abstinence.