AUTHOR=Fleury Ségolène , Tronchon Paul , Rota Juliane , Meunier Charlotte , Mardiros Oliver , Van Wymelbeke-Delannoy Virginie , Sulmont-Rossé Claire 

TITLE=The Nutritional Issue of Older People Receiving Home-Delivered Meals: A Systematic Review

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Nutrition

VOLUME=8

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/nutrition/articles/10.3389/fnut.2021.629580

DOI=10.3389/fnut.2021.629580

ISSN=2296-861X

ABSTRACT=<p><bold>Background:</bold> Setting up a home-delivered meal service often allows older people suffering from physical and/or cognitive disabilities to stay at home. However, older people who delegate their food activities (food purchasing, cooking…) have been reported to have a worse nutritional status than people who take care of their food activities. In this context, we will conduct a systematic review of all studies related to the nutritional issue in home-delivered meal older recipients.</p><p><bold>Methods:</bold> In June 2020, we searched 3 databases (Pubmed, Web of Science, EMBASE) to identify studies from all years on older adults at home and receiving home-delivered meal services (<italic>population</italic>). The following <italic>outcomes</italic> were considered: nutritional status (Body Mass Index, weight, undernutrition) and nutritional intake. Any nutritional <italic>intervention, comparator</italic>, and <italic>study design</italic> were relevant for inclusion.</p><p><bold>Results:</bold> Forty-eight original studies met the inclusion criteria, most of them being published after the year 2000 (<italic>n</italic> = 34) and undertaken in the USA (<italic>n</italic> = 32). The selection includes 30 cross-sectional and 18 longitudinal studies. The main findings of this review are the following: (1) home-delivery meal older recipients are at high risk of undernutrition; (2) providing home-delivery meals may improve the nutritional status and nutrient intake; (3) this improvement is even higher when the home-delivery meal service is improved, for instance by providing dietetic counseling or adding supplementary snacks/meals or enriched food. However, even an improved service does not allow all the older recipients meeting their recommended nutritional allowance.</p><p><bold>Conclusion:</bold> This review reveals a need to further develop strategies allowing home-delivery meal older recipients to fulfill their nutritional needs. From a methodological point of view, there is a need to describe in more detail the home-delivered services provided to studies' participants to better consider meal frequency and meal content in the results.</p>