Eat Well Age Well is part of the National Charity - Food Train, who work to tackle malnutrition amongst older adults living at home in Scotland. Approximately 100,000 older people in Scotland are malnourished or at risk of malnutrition. Eat Well Age Well will be talking about the important role of food in bringing people together to prevent malnutrition, food insecurity and social isolation in older age. They will discuss the importance of recognising the social and wellbeing value of food, as well as of grassroot community initiatives, including intergenerational work, that provide older people with opportunities to eat, shop and cook with others.

1. The social and wellbeing
importance of food in older
age
Tilly Robinson-Miles
tilly@eatwellagewell.org.uk
@trobinsonmiles

4. Eat Well Age Well is a 3.5 year project launched in May 2018 as
part of the Food Train and funded by the National Lottery
Community Fund.
The project aims to contribute to the prevention,
detection and treatment of malnutrition among
older adults (over 65) living at home in Scotland.

5. Malnutrition – What is it?
❖ Malnutrition occurs when a person’s diet does not meet their
nutritional needs
NICE defines a person as malnourished if they have:
▪ A BMI (Body Mass Index) of less than 18.5kg/m2
▪ Unintentional weight loss greater than 10%, within the past 3-6
months
▪ A BMI of less than 20 and unintentional weight loss greater
than 5% within the past 3-6 months

7. “Food security exists when all people, at all
times, have physical and economic access to.
sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets
their dietary needs and food preferences for
an. active and healthy life”
Food and Agricultural Organisation

8. 1 in 10 older people living in the UK today
are malnourished, or at risk of being
malnourished
(Malnutrition Task Force, 2013)

9. Eat Well Age Well Stakeholder group
British Dietetic Association
Scotland Board
Collaboration
Scottish
Dietetic
Leadership
Network

10. Calls to Action
• As part of MAW 2020 we published our Calls to Action for Scot
Gov around malnutrition
• These are based on our research findings as well as our own
experience from throughout the project
• Full report with summary of our work so far and Calls to Action
is available at
https://www.eatwellagewell.org.uk/images/TheHiddenProblem.p
df

12. “the physical need for food must be paired in
the context of meaningful social interactions
in order to reduce the risk of isolation and
loneliness which creates a vicious cycle of
under eating poor self-care and low mood”
(Reid and Lido, 2020)

13. conversation
Connection
Friendship
Feelings of
worth

14. Reid and Lido 2020

15. Small ideas, big impact grants in the community
47 Projects had been
funded with over
£160,000 in the first 2
rounds

16. Fantastic Food First Milkshakes
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AAw34jvuHQ

17. What can you do?
• Sign up to our newsletter
• Follow us on Twitter @EatWellScot @TRobinsonMiles and
engage with our events
• Start the conversation with older people in your own lives
• Attend our Raising the Issue of Malnutrition Training

18. Podcast
• EWAW Podcast Link: https://anchor.fm/eatwellagewell
• Also available on Spotify and Google Podcasts – search “Eat
Well Age Well”
• Episode 1 – What is malnutrition?
• Episode 2 – Communities, Covid & Older People
• Episode 3 – Glasgow University Research Study

19. Follow Us
@EatWellScot
@trobinsonmiles eat_well_scot
@EatWellScot
Get in touch!
Hello@eatwellagewell.org.uk
tilly@eatwellagewell.org.uk