Current article’s main objective is clearly to describe the result of Older Americans Act Nutrition Program (Wellman et al., 2007, n.p.). This program appears to be a part of You Can! Program, whose aim is to popularize the physical activity and modify Americans’ food choices to more healthy way (Administration on Aging’s, 2015, n.p.). This campaign includes specific list of organizations to cater elderlies and enroll them into public health activities. Basically, this program was separated into week goals for each of the participants to see the progress of their physical state and food balance (Administration on Aging’s, 2015, n.p.).
The program has gathered 620 participants. The average age of them was 74.6, when the oldest one was almost 102 year-old. 5% were in their 90s and a quarter of the whole participants – at the age of 80s (Wellman et al., 2007, n.p.).
Before the Older Americans Act Nutrition Program has been launched, there were two background programs developed in Florida. The first one evaluated the elderly’ ability to use step counters and keep the daily log (Wellman et al., 2007, n.p.). 80% out of the participants successfully passed the test and further research was provided regarding their food choices. Those who were over or underweight also needed to focus on portion sizes.
This program expectedly resulted on both: nutrition and physical activities. 31% of the participants increased the consumption of fruits for at least one servings while only 18 decreased it (Wellman et al., 2007, n.p.). 72% of the participants also successfully completed the first stage of the physical activity task and 38% succeeded to the second one.
All in all, the Nutrition and Physical activity programs were even more successful and useful for elderlies than expected. Thanks to local volunteers and the involvement of health professionals rapidly increased the overall quality of the programs (Wellman et al., 2007, n.p.). Thus, over 99% of participants recommended the program to their relatives and friends. According to one of the participants: “I was encouraged and learned that I needed to walk more. It also helped me understand the benefits of eating a variety of foods.” (Wellman et al., 2007, n.p.).
References
Wellman, N., Kamp, B., Kirk-Sanchez, N., & Johnson, P. (2007). Eat Better & Move More: A Community-Based Program Designed to Improve Diets and Increase Physical Activity Among Older Americans. Am J Public Health, 97(4), 710-717. doi:10.2105/ajph.2006.090522
Administration on Aging’s,. (2015). You Can! campaign. Retrieved 12 July 2015, from http://www.aoa.gov/youcan
