Resource Senior Activ Review – Can The Senior Activ Help The Elderly?

Can Resource Senior Activ help the elderly? Do these nutritional drinks have any potential health benefits for seniors? You will get the answer to these questions and more in this Resource Senior Activ Review.

Let’s start rolling…

The elderly need to eat meals that a well-balanced in carbs, protein, minerals, fats, vitamins and minerals. Good nutrition and a balanced diet help to promote good health. It supplies one with energy to support an active lifestyle, and it can help weight management and reduce frailty and disability in seniors.

Good nutrition may also help prevent diseases like type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis, high blood pressure, heart disease, and certain cancers.

One of the challenges seniors face is the inability to get the amount of nutrients their body needs.

As we get age, our body, lifestyle, appetite, and nutritional needs change. These changes can make it difficult for seniors to eat healthily. And this can result in malnutrition.

Malnutrition is a common and dangerous problem among the elderly. Malnutrition is one thing that makes the aged to be weak and vulnerable to illness and is also one of the cause of early death among the aged.

Although the elderly can get all the nourishment they need by eating clean, many still need supplements and nutritional drinks like Resource Senior Activ to meet their dietary needs.

Resource Senior Activ is a nutritional drink high in calories, protein, and other nutrients that may help your aged loved one maintain a well-balanced diet, be more energetic, maintain their weight, prevent weight loss, and gain weight.

Malnutrition And Weight Loss In The Elderly

Losing weight is not a normal part of aging but a sign of frailty. Frailty in the elderly is mostly caused by malnutrition/malnourishment.

Malnutrition in older adults can result in

• Tiredness and lack of energy
• Poor and weak immune system which increases the risk of infection
• Hearth failure
• Depression and anxiety
• Delay in wound healing
• Weakness of the muscle and a decrease in bone mass which increases the risk of falls and fracture
• Increased risk of death

Factors That Contributes To Malnutrition Among The Elderly

We may think that the only cause of malnutrition is inadequate food or a diet poor in nutrients. But in reality, the combination of physical, social and psychological factors are often the causes of malnutrition.

Some of the factors that can prevent the elderly from eating healthily are:

• Dysgeusia

This is the impairment of the taste buds. It reduces the ability to detect and differentiate between sweet, bitter, sour and salty tastes.

Dysgeusia can result in loss of appetite, leading to poor food intake as one no longer derives any joy in eating.

Some of the common causes of Dysgeusia are poor oral hygiene, oral bacterial growth, oral dryness, poor dentition and smoking.

• Dementia

This is a cognitive impairment that can lead to loss of memory, disorientation and inability to carry out activities of daily living.

Dementia can make one forget to shop for groceries or to eat.

Tip: This is our Edible Water review.

• Depression

Depression can cause one to lose appetite resulting in malnourishment.

• Dysphagia

Dysphagia is the inability to ingest food or drink. It is mostly caused by any mechanical obstruction or a neurological condition that affects the esophagus.

Dysphagia makes eating and drinking a painful experience, and this can result in poor eating and consequently malnutrition.

• Disease

Aside from making it hard for one to cook or eat, sickness can cause one to lose their appetite and change how the body processes nutrients. Most ailments can affect the state of nutrition negatively, resulting in malnourishment.

For instance, diabetic patients have a strict recommended diet that is often difficult for one to adhere to. Those with stroke and cardiac diseases need more nutrients and protein to meet their nutritional needs.

• Drugs

As people get older, the level and number of medications prescribed for them increase.

Most of these drugs may have serious side effects and drug interactions, resulting in loss of appetite and nutrient malabsorption.

• Diarrhea

Chronic diarrhea can result in malnutrition. Chronic diarrhea in the aged can be caused by inflammatory conditions, medication taken, chronic infections, secretory conditions, malabsorption conditions, osmotic disorders and motility disorders.

• Dysfunction of the immune system

This can increase the risk of infection, delay wound healing and can contribute to malnourishment.

• Dentition

Loss of teeth and poor dental health can affect one’s ability to bite and chew, resulting in malnutrition as it affects one’s choice of food.

• Poverty and lack of access to adequate and nutritious food

What Are Nutritional Drinks?

Nutritional drinks are premade drinks formulated to provide a healthy balance of carbs, fat, protein, vitamins and minerals.

They can come in the liquid ready-to-drink form or in powdered ready-to-mix option. They are also available in different delicious flavors.

Benefits Of Nutritional Drinks

• Help to maintain weight and prevent unintentional weight loss
• A helpful source of nutrients, especially for seniors with dysphagia since they have difficulty swallowing.

Eating solid food may be a problem for seniors in these groups. And, according to a study, seniors with dysphagia require something smooth and nutritious to meet their dietary needs.

• Premade and easy to use

You don’t need to start preparing from scratch when you are busy and starving. All you have to do is to grab one from your refrigerator and pop it open, and voila! You can enjoy your delicious diet drink.

• They are readily available in many varieties and flavours

Some are low in calories and appropriate for the elderly, while some are good for people with medical conditions such as diabetes.

Bad Side Of Nutritional Drink

• Most of them are loaded with lots of processed sugar; this can elevate the blood sugar level, especially in diabetic patients.
• Since it is high in calories, overconsumption of diet drinks can result in unwanted weight gain.
• It is not as filling as a well-cooked meal.
• Since nutritional drinks contain different vitamins and minerals, some in high amounts, it may interact with some of the elderly’s prescription drugs.

What Is Resource Senior Activ?

Resource Senior Activ, a line of Nestle Health Science products (just like Optifast), is a specially formulated nutritious drink for the elderly.

It is a milk-based high calorie, and high protein drink that is rich in vitamins, minerals and fiber.

This nutritional supplement can provide a malnourished person with enough calories, protein, vitamins and minerals to fill in the nutritional gap.

The high protein content makes it an excellent drink for muscle building, wound healing and strong and healthy bones.

In addition, Resource Senior Activ contains fiber from FOS and is in line to promote digestion and bowel movement.

It comes in liquid form as a ready-to-drink bottled diet drink. Tailored to meet the nutritional needs of the elderly who are:

• Undernourished or with a nutritional deficit
• Needing more energy and protein
• Frail
• With problematic dysphagia
• With problems of ingestion and assimilation
• With the problem of metabolism
• At the risk of bone decalcification

This drink helps:

• To increase energy and strength
• To promote weight gain or the maintenance of a healthy body weight
• In the management of undernutrition and frailty.

This hypercaloric and hyper-protein drink features:

• A nutritionally complete ready-to-consume drink in a 200ml container
• In 3 delicious flavors – vanilla, strawberry, and caramel favors.
• Packs of 4
• Low lactose and gluten-free drink
• A drink that provides 20g of protein, 300 calories, with over 20 essential vitamins, minerals and trace elements required in a complete and well-balanced diet.

Nutritional Value Of Resource Senior Activ

	Per 100ml/g	Per bottle
Energy	670KJ/160Kcal	1340KJ/320Kcal
carbohydrate	12g/32%	24g/32%
Sugar	6.7g	13.4g
Lactose	<0.5g	<1g
Dietary fiber	1.5g/4%	3g/4%
Total fat	6.2g/39%	12.4g/39%
Saturated fat	0.9g	1.8g
monounsaturated	3.6g	7.2g
Polyunsaturated	1.7g	3.4g
Protein	10g/27%	20g/27%
Salt	0.24g	0.48g
Sodium	95mg	190mg
Potassium	190mg	380mg
Magnesium	25mg	50mg
Phosphorus	125mg	250mg
Calcium	125mg	250mg
Chloride	125mg	250mg
Copper	0.17mg	0.34mg
Iron	1.7mg	3.4mg
Manganese	0.27mg	0.54mg
Fluoride	0.11mg	0.22mg
Zinc	2mg	4mg
Chromium	8 µg	16 µg
Molybdenum	14 µg	28 µg
Iodine	18ug	36 µg
Selenium	9.5ug	19ug
Vitamin D	1.4 µg	2.8 µg
Vitamin K	14 µg	28 µg
Vitamin E	2.7mg	5.4mg
Vitamin C	20mg	40mg
Vitamin A	120 µg	240 µg
Folic acid	39 µg	78 µg
Niacin	1.1mg/3.4 NE	2.2mg/6.4 NE
Riboflavin	0.38mg	0.76,mg
Vitamin B6	0.24mg	0.48mg
Vitamin B12	0.57 µg	1.14 µg
Thiamine	0.30mg	0.60mg
Biotin	4.7 µg	9.4 µg
Pantothenic acid	0.65mg	1.3mg
Choline	80mg
Taurine	8mg
L-carnitine	15mg
Water	100g/77ml
Osmolarity	480 mOsm / L
Osmolality	740 mOsm / kg H2 0

NE: Niacin equivalent

Resource Senior Activ Use and Warnings

• Resource SeniornActiv can be prescribed on a blue prescription and used as a supplement or source of nutrition under medical supervision
• The quantity to be taken as a food supplement for a medical condition depends on doctor or dietitian advice
• Suitable for adults over the age of 50 and NOT for children under the age of 3
• Once opened, Resource Senior Activ can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours.

Precaution and Safety

• It is high in sugar which can spike the blood sugar level, which can be a problem for elderly diabetic patients and result in weight gain
• Since it contains lactose, although, in a very small amount, it may cause nausea, constipation, flatulence or diarrhea to the elderly with lactose intolerance.

Conclusion

One reason or the other, most seniors are reluctant to eat, and lack of proper nutrition can affect their health and their quality of life.

In order to ensure that our loved elderly ones get all the right nutrition they need, nutritional supplements/drinks like Resource Senior Activ is highly recommended to help bridge the nutritional gap since it is highly nutritious and can serve as a meal or dietary supplement.

Hey,! Wait! Before rushing off to the grocery store or ordering tons of Resource Senior Activ for yourself or your aged loved one, you need to consult your doctor to identify and if possible, address the underlying cause of the loss of appetite.

Although healthy home-cooked meals have always been and will always be the best option but is best if a doctor should determine if a senior needs a nutritional drink or not.