Background: Elderly is one phase of life that to be passed by everyone. The health status of elderly is highly influenced by their nutrient intakes both quality and quantity. However, most of Indonesian elderly do not really understand proper food consumption and appropriate food intakes for their health.
Objective: To examine the effect of nutrition counseling on nutrient intakes of the elder people.
Methods: The study was done using qualitative and quantitative approaches with time series design. Samples were elderly aged 55 65 years old, who involved in the Karang Lansia participants. Seven groups of Karang Lansia selected for this study were those who still had regular activity at the time of the study. Each member of the elderly group were instructed to come to Karang Lansia four times during two weeks to receive nutrition counseling. The data on nutrient intakes of each elderly were collected using multiple recalls method conducted five times during the study.
Results: The study showed that after nutrition counseling the average of the calorie intake of the elderly increased by 4,93% of the RDA and the average of the protein intake increased by 10,81% of the RDA. Age, gender and food habit were found to be important predictors of the nutrient intakes of the elderly.
Conclusions: Nutrition counseling has significantly increased nutrient intakes of the elderly. Nutrition counseling is necessary to be given to elderly, especially to those who have inadequate food habit.
Key word: Nutrition counseling, Elderly, Nutrient intake
