Drug‐Diet Interactions in Elderly People

Discusses the current situation whereby the majority of elderly people in the UK regularly take at least one prescribed drug and a significant proportion are given long‐term multiple drug therapy. Those in institutions are particularly prone to over‐prescribing. Shows that the rate of prescription is highly significant because large numbers of elderly people have adverse reactions to their medication. In the case of nutritional reactions, the side‐effects of drugs can cause loss of interest in food or precipitate micronutrient deficiencies. Notes that in an elderly person these drug‐diet reactions have considerable knock‐on effects on nutritional status, physical and mental health and immunity to infection. Stresses, therefore, that programmes of drug review and reductions are vital among all elderly people but should be integrated especially into the routines of homes and hospitals