Carefully chewing food, you help society

Nutrition of the elderly

Nina SAMOKHINA, doctor of the highest category
Magazine "60 years is not an age"

Decent old age, not even old age, but active longevity, largely depends on the elderly, on ourselves. The happiness of the "second youth" does not come by itself, you need to fight for it, radically changing your mentality, habits and addictions, and above all in nutrition.

Let's count the caloriesAccording to the director of the Institute of Nutrition of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences V.A. Tutelyan, the main factor causing irreparable harm to health is "violation of the structure of nutrition".

In other words, starvation or overeating, inadequate, unbalanced nutrition in terms of the ratio of basic nutrients has the most significant impact on the development of diseases and on the aging process of the human body itself.

At the age of 50-60 years, our body undergoes serious changes. First of all, the activity of metabolism sharply decreases, the work of enzymatic systems decreases, secretory and motor functions of the gastrointestinal tract (gastrointestinal tract) weaken. Due to the decrease in the intensity of metabolic processes and the restriction of physical activity, the body's need for energy decreases with age. On average, the caloric content (energy value) of the diet in 60-69 and 70-80 years should be 85 and 75% of the caloric content of the diet in 20-30 years, respectively.

In addition, at any age, especially in the elderly, it is very important to maintain a correspondence between energy consumption and the energy value of the food consumed: how many calories we consumed, so much should we spend.

Currently, scientists have proved that a diet limited in calories, but full of all the necessary nutrients, not only significantly increases life expectancy, but also improves its quality. The table shows the norms of physiological energy requirements and some of the most important substances, taking into account age.

Daily norms of physiological energy and nutritional requirements
for the elderly and senile Men

Mineral substances: 

Vitamins:Men

Therefore (and all doctors are calling for this!) if you want to live a long time, limit the amount of simple carbohydrates in your diet: white bread, confectionery made of premium flour, sugar, instant cereals, any sweet drinks, and also reduce the proportion of fats – both animal and vegetable.

For clarity, I will give the calorie content of some products:

 100 g of white bread -231 calories (kcal),
 100 g of sweet rolls – 308 kcal,
 150 g of potatoes fried in oil – 240 kcal,
 one serving of hamburger – 576 kcal,
 150 g pork chop – 540 kcal,
 15 g of butter – 110 kcal,
 20 g of vegetable oil – 179 kcal.

Thus, the nutrition of the elderly should be, on the one hand, limited in calories, on the other – full-fledged in the content of essential amino acids, carbohydrates, vitamins, micro- and macroelements, polyunsaturated fatty acids and antioxidants.

The complex mechanism of digestionNow let's get acquainted with how digestion occurs in the body and how age affects it.

Each department of the gastrointestinal tract has its own specific functions.

In the oral cavity, food is mechanically crushed, processed with saliva enzymes. This is where the initial splitting of carbohydrates takes place. Saliva enzymes (amylase, maltase) they are able to break down starch to glucose.

This is easy to see: if you chew a piece of bread carefully, you can feel the sweet taste in your mouth. Glucose is already absorbed into the blood in the oral cavity, which is a signal for the structures of the brain that control human appetite and eating behavior. Therefore, careful chewing of food, especially carbohydrate, contributes to rapid saturation with less.

The work of other parts of the gastrointestinal tract, especially the stomach, depends on how thoroughly the food is processed in the oral cavity. First of all, it is a reliable prevention of chronic gastritis. All gastritis comes from childhood, when mothers, feeding the baby, say: "Swallow quickly, why do you keep porridge in your mouth!" Try to chew food thoroughly for two weeks, and it is likely that many of your gastrointestinal problems will disappear.

Unfortunately, even if you have your own teeth, not to mention dentures, the function of biting and chewing is often disrupted in the elderly. A meat grinder or a blender can help. To make solid foods easier to chew, they are pre-crushed. In this case, they are well mixed with saliva in the mouth, after which they are sent to the stomach.

Proteins are digested in the stomach under the influence of acidic gastric juice. The stomach glands secrete protein-splitting enzymes, the most important of which are pepsin and chymosin, as well as hydrochloric acid and mucus.

Hydrochloric acid has an antibacterial effect, creates optimal conditions for the action of pepsins, causes swelling of the food mass, increases the permeability of cellular structures and thereby favors the subsequent processing of food. Under the action of hydrochloric acid, calcium and iron salts pass into a form in which they can be easily absorbed in the intestine. That is, the initial stage of protein digestion and preparation of food for further cleavage in the following gastrointestinal tract is carried out in the stomach.

For normal digestion of food, it is necessary to preserve the acidic environment of gastric juice. Unfortunately, the stomach of a 60-year-old person secretes hydrochloric acid several times less than a young one. To stimulate gastric secretion, you can resort to some techniques. For example, after eating, put a few grains of table salt on the tip of the tongue, preferably sea salt. When the salt dissolves, salty saliva should be swallowed.

A small amount of salt will not have a harmful effect on the body, but will force the stomach to additionally secrete gastric juice. You can eat half a teaspoon of seaweed or a small piece of salted herring after eating.

Seasonings such as cumin, coriander, cinnamon, mustard, adjika, horseradish also stimulate gastric secretion. Enzymes formed in pickled vegetables improve digestion in the stomach.

Some fruits, such as pineapples and papaya, contain enzymes that improve the digestion of proteins. Kiwi fruits also contain an enzyme that helps break down proteins, actinidin. It is better to eat soft fruits, because the activity of this enzyme in them is 3 times higher than in hard, unripe fruits.

From the stomach, a food lump enters the small intestine in small portions, into its initial part – the 12-duodenum. Three digestive juices enter the cavity of the duodenum 12: alkaline juice of the pancreas, bile and intestinal juice secreted by the mucous membrane of the small intestine. Pancreatic juice contains enzymes for hydrolysis of all types of nutrients: proteins, fats and carbohydrates. Bile acids are necessary for the emulsification of fats and the absorption of fatty acids. Enzymes of intestinal juice (amylase, maltase, lactase) carry out the final breakdown of carbohydrates.

Thus, about 80% of carbohydrates coming from food and almost 100% of proteins and fats are digested in the duodenum 12. It is in this department that food substances are converted into compounds, which are then assimilated by the body.

In the subsequent sections of the small intestine, the main absorption of vitamins, macro- and microelements, water, which continues in the large intestine, takes place. In addition, the large intestine is home to a huge number of various beneficial bacteria that process fiber, produce a number of substances that strengthen our immunity, synthesize amino acids, some vitamins, including K and group B.

In order for the complex mechanism of digestion to work clearly and smoothly, a person must receive all the necessary nutrients with food in a balanced ratio. Only if a strict balance of proteins, fats, carbohydrates, minerals, vitamins is maintained in it, the body continues its work much longer than we can imagine, and rewards us with health and longevity.

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru03.05.2012