Abstract:
Good nutrition is an important indicator of longevity and good health of the elderly. Hence, this
study examined the relationship between the nutritional practices and health status of the elderly in
Ateitu and Winneba Zongo communities in the Effutu Municipality, Ghana. Descriptive survey
design was adopted for this study. A total of one hundred (100) elderly people aged 60 years and
above were selected via snowball and purposive sampling techniques for the study. A pre-tested and
contextually prepared structured questionnaire (Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficient =0.78) was
used to conduct the survey. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22 was used
to analyse the data quantitatively using frequency count, percentage, and independent samples test.
The findings indicate that nutritional practices such as eating balanced diet regularly, eating low fat
diet, consuming plenty vegetables and fruits are significantly linked to good health of the elderly in
Ateitu and Winneba Zongo communities(p<0.05). It is, therefore, recommended that the elderly
should regularly feed on fresh fruits and vegetables, low fat and calorie diets, diets low in salt and
sugar, calcium rich diets and food supplements in order to strengthen their immune system and
maintain good health. |
