Food intake in the real world: implications for nutrition and aging

Food intake is affected by physiological and environmental factors. Evidence from studies of real world intake by free-living individuals suggests that environmental factors play the major role in controlling day-to-day intake. As individuals age, their ability to respond to physiological factors diminishes, but their responsiveness to environmental factors is unaffected. The results suggest that undernutrition in the elderly might result from compromised physiological function and environmental changes, and that it can be treated by environmental restructuring.