How to Get Those with Advanced Dementia to Eat

According to new visual perception research from a team at Boston University, using brightly colored tableware helps those with severe dementia to eat better because they have diminished sensitivity to visual contrast.. With bright "frames" for the food and beverage in front of them, those in the study increase d their food and beverage intake by 25 percent or more.



Appearing in a recent issue of the journal Clinical Nutrition, the study's findings could lead to great improvements in the nutritional welfare of individuals with advanced dementia.



The team, led by Tracy Dunne, a former postdoctoral fellow at BU's Gerontology Center and at the Geriatric Research, Education, and Clinical Center (GRECC) of the Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center in Bedford, Mass., included Alice Cronin-Golomb, a professor in BU's Department of Psychology; Sandra Neargarder, an assistant professor of psychology at Bridgewater (Mass.) State College and BU research assistant; and, Patsy Cipolloni, an assistant research professor of anatomy and neurobiology at Boston University Medical Center.



Although 40 percent of individuals with severe dementia show a health-damaging degree of weight loss, reasons for this drop in weight have not been precisely defined. Most often, explanations point to depression, an inability to focus on more than one food at a time, and an inability to eat independently. The BU team took a different perspective on the problem. They asked, "What if weight loss occurs because individuals cannot distinguish a plate from the table setting, food from a plate, or liquid from its container?" What if visual impairment is an important factor?



The researchers screened for participants among the population in GRECC's long-term care units.



The study consisted of two phases, an initial study and a one-year follow-up study. Nine men were selected for the initial study. Participants were, on average, 82.7 years old, had an average of 13.3 years of education, and, in tests designed to measure cognitive status, scored an average 2.9 out of a possible 30. Each was able to eat independently

Reported by Susan Berg, author of

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