Missing, loose or rotten teeth or dentures which don't fit well or cause mouth sores can make it hard to eat. The more medicines you take, the greater the chance for side effects such as increased or decreased appetite, change in taste, constipation, weakness, drowsiness, diarrhea, nausea, and others. Vitamins or minerals when taken in large doses act like drugs and can cause harm. Alert your doctor to everything you take. Being overweight or underweight also increases your chance of poor health.
Most older people lead full and productive lives.
But as age increases, risk of frailty and health problems increase. Reprinted with permission by the Nutrition Screening Initiative, a project of the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Dietetic Association and the National Council on the Aging, Inc., and funded in part from Ross Products Division, Abbott Laboratories.