LINKING RESEARCH AND EDUCATION FOR FLORIDA'S ELDERS

This project is possible thanks to funding by the Florida Department of Elder Affairs in partnership with state, county, and local agencies

Nutrition For Elders

The 65 and older group is growing more rapidly than any other population in the nation. In 1990, those 65 and older comprised an estimated 2.4 million (18.3%) of Florida's population, and that number is expected to double by the year 2020. Florida's aging population may well become the "model" for the rest of the United States.

Until recently there has been limited research on the nutritional requirements of the elder population and few dietary recommendations targeted to elders. The USDA Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion has established a Healthy Eating Index (HEI) that summarizes overall diet quality and reflects how close the diet comes to various dietary recommendations. USDA has recently (July, 1999) analyzed and revised this index to focus on the nutritional status of individuals 65 years and older. This index is available at the USDA web site, as a PDF file: www.usda.gov/cnpp/Insights/insight14.PDF/.

According to the Index, decline in the overall diet quality of Americans aged 65 and older is noticeable but not severe. Nutrition educators should aim at increasing awareness of the quantity and nutrient density of foods that elders consume, because these are essential to meeting the recommended intake of the five major food groups.

Get Vaccinated

Combined, flu and pneumonia are the sixth leading cause of death in the United States. Influenza causes an average of 20,000 deaths per year, and pneumonia approximately 40,000. More than 90% of influenza deaths occur in people over the age of 65.

Everyone age 65 and older who lives or works in a nursing home, or who has a chronic illness or immune system disorder should get a flu shot each fall (mid-October to mid-November).

Everyone age 65 and older, and anyone with a chronic disease or a weak immune system should get the pneumonia vaccine. The pneumonia vaccine is usually given once instead of every year like the flu shot. Most people have mild or no side effects with either vaccine. Influenza and pneumonia vaccines are both covered by Medicare.

New Data on Foodborne Illness in the U.S.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently published new figures on the impact of foodborne illness in the United States. The article was published in the September 1999, issue of Emerging Infectious Diseases. The data for this new report came from numerous sources including: FoodNet, Public Health Laboratory Information System, Gulf Coast States Vibrio Surveillance System, Foodborne Disease Outbreak Surveillance System, and others. According to the CDC Director Dr. Jeffrey Koplan, the new report should not be compared to foodborne illness incidence data of the past. New calculations and surveillance systems provide the most accurate reporting system to date. Differences between this report and the previous data should not be compared longitudinally. The differences are primarily from better information and new analyses rather than changes in disease frequency over time.

Since 1942, the number of known foodborne pathogens has multiplied more than five times. A couple of reasons for this increase are that consumers are eating out more and they consume more processed food. Processed food involves more preparation so more people handle it which increases the chance of contamination. There are more than 200 known diseases transmitted through food. In the U.S. alone foodborne diseases have been estimated to cause 6 million to 81 million illnesses and close to 9,000 deaths per year. The pathogens of greatest concern today are: Campylobacter jejuni, Escherichia coli 0157:H7, Listeria monocytogenes, Cyclospora cayetanensis. The leading causes of death are Salmonella, Listeria, and Toxoplasma, which all together account for more than 75% of foodborne deaths caused by known pathogens.

Many assumptions were taken when compiling the figures for this report. One was the degree of under-reporting. Documented estimates of under-reporting are not available for most pathogens, so the report relied on other methods to calculate the data. Secondly, the frequency of foodborne transmission for individual pathogens is affected by errors in reporting. Also frequency of acute gastroenteritis in the general population is based on household surveys and eliminates the rates of foodborne illness associated with food handlers or health-care delivery.

Further improvements of foodborne illness estimates will require persistent and advanced surveillance systems.

Source: CDC Press Office, September 16, 1999. The complete article is available at: www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/

Inspection of Meat and Poultry

Rules published by the USDA in 1996, govern the inspection process of meat and poultry in slaughter and processing plants. These rules require that all meat and poultry plants develop HACCP plans to regulate and manage production operations. The Pathogen Reduction/ HACCP rule was initially instituted in January, 1998. This rule dealt with plants with greater than 500 employees, which slaughter 75% of the nation's meat. Plants that have fewer than 500 employees had to activate HACCP plans by January, 1999. Establishments with less than 10 employees or annual sales of less than $2.5 million, have until January, 2000.

There are four main elements that detail this food safety system:

1. All state and federally inspected meat and poultry plants must have a HACCP plan.
2. Federally inspected meat and poultry plants must have sanitation operating procedures to show how they will meet sanitation requirements.
3. The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) will test for Salmonella on raw meat and poultry products to confirm that pathogen-reduction standards for Salmonella are being met.
4. The slaughter plants will test for all types of E. coli on carcasses to insure that the HACCP process prevents and removes fecal contamination.

New Research in Safe Food Preparation

In conjunction with National Food Safety Education Month for 1999, new research findings were presented at the July, 1998 FDA, CDC, and USDA meeting. Here are a few highlights:

• A telephone survey conducted by the Oregon State Health Department found results to indicate a significant percentage of consumers are at risk of foodborne disease from eating runny eggs (18%) or preferring pink hamburgers (30%). Hispanics, young adults, men, and people of higher income and higher education practiced more risky behaviors than others.
  
• In another telephone survey, the percentage of respondents who viewed chicken and red meat as high-risk foods has sharply increased in the past five years, but concern for other foods, such as shellfish, has not seen a significant increase.
  
• In the past five years, there has been an increase in the awareness of foodborne illness, particularly in women, older persons, African-Americans, and people of lesser education. Awareness levels of men, younger individuals, whites, and people with higher education was lower than the previous group.
  
• Half of the telephone survey participants said they owned a food thermometer. Only three percent of those who owned a thermometer said they check the temperature of hamburgers often. Another three percent said they "sometimes" check hamburger temperatures with a thermometer (FDA, 1998).

National Food Safety Educator's Network

EdNet-L@foodsafety.gov

This is an electronic newsletter from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It provides updates on food safety activities to educators and others concerned about food safety.

New Health Claim Approved by FDA

On October 26, 1999, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a health claim about the role of soy protein in reducing risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) for use on food labels. Approval is based on FDA's conclusion that foods containing soy protein, included in a low fat/low cholesterol diet, may reduce risk of CHD by lowering blood cholesterol levels.

CHD is a major public health concern because it causes more deaths in the U.S. than any other disease. High blood cholesterol is one of the primary risk factors for CHD.

The new health claim is based on scientific evidence that including soy protein in a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol may help to reduce risk of CHD. Recent clinical trials have shown that consumption of soy protein, compared to other proteins such as those from milk or meat, can lower total and LDL-cholesterol levels.

Foods that may be eligible for this health claim include soy beverages, tofu, tempeh, soy-based meat alternates, and possibly some baked goods. Foods that carry the claim must meet the requirements for low fat, low saturated fat, and low cholesterol content, except foods made with whole soybeans; they may qualify for the health claim if they contain no fat in addition to that present in the whole soybean.

Scientific studies show that 25g of soy protein daily in the diet is needed to show a significant cholesterol-lowering effect. In order to qualify for the new health claim, a food must contain an amount of soy protein that is one-fourth of the effective level, 6.25g per serving.

Source: FDA Press Release, October 20, 1999

A Word from ENAFS

November 16^th was the sixth and final 1999 nutrition workshop provided by the Elder Nutrition and Food Safety Project. Linda, Luisa, and I had a wonderful time conducting the workshops. We are looking forward to planning training workshops for next year.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the Area Agencies on Aging and county Extension faculty for providing sites for our workshops, being well prepared and extremely helpful on the day of training, and for providing hot coffee and refreshments for the workshop participants! We could not have completed the six workshops without your help.

Also, I would like to thank all of the participants who made the time to attend one of the workshops. I hope you left with a better knowledge of the various topics we covered during training, and with educational resources that will enhance your work with elders. We are busy working on the remaining lesson plans and additional consumer handouts, which will be mailed to you. Your evaluations of the workshops were very informative and will be used in the planning of our training workshops next year. For those of you who forgot to fill out an evaluation form, it is not too late, please fill out the brightly colored form in your training packet and mail it to the address provided on the evaluation sheet. Thank you!

Y2K Fact Sheets

The Colorado State University Extension Service has developed informational sheets for individuals preparing for emergency situations. Topics included are:

• Three-day emergency supply of pantry food;
• Food safety and storage for emergency preparedness;
• Water storage; and
• Emergency alternative electricity options.

These fact sheets are available at: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/consumer/pubcons.html