Duration
6 weeksWeekly study
1 hour100% online
How it works
Healthy Eating for Seniors: A Comprehensive Guide
Support healthier, happier lives for older adults
By 2030, 1.4 billion people will be over the age of 60 (WHO), increasing the demand for specialised care for ageing populations.
As a caregiver, you have the power to transform the health and vitality of older adults through thoughtfully prepared meals and tailored nutrition plans.
Discover how you can tailor each for your patients and boost their quality of care on this online course from Taipei Medical University.
Over six immersive weeks, you’ll develop the expertise to address the unique nutritional needs of older adults and support them in ageing well with practical, evidence-based strategies.
Understand seniors’ health and nutritional needs
You’ll begin with an introduction to the key issues affecting elderly health, including geriatric syndromes, frailty, and common nutrient deficiencies.
You’ll gain a deeper understanding of how ageing impacts dietary needs and how you can address these through proper nutrition and healthy eating habits.
Design meals to meet the unique nutritional needs of seniors
You’ll then explore how to design, produce, and select food that meets the health needs of seniors, utilising your understanding of medicine, nutrition, and food science.
You’ll master key concepts such as texture-modified food standards, essential for seniors with chewing or swallowing challenges. Additionally, you’ll explore food processing techniques that ensure each meal they receive is both nutritious and easy to digest.
Explore global trends and food processing technologies
After that, you’ll delve into food processing technologies and learn how they’re applied to geriatric food development.
With the experts at Taipei Medical University, you’ll explore international trends in geriatric food, focusing on markets in Japan, the U.S., and Taiwan.
Syllabus
Week 1
Physiological and Nutritional Issues in Seniors
Physiological and Nutritional Issues in Seniors
Look at the nutrient deficiencies and energy needs of the elderly from the perspective of geriatric syndrome and formulate healthy nutrition strategies.
Week 2
Food Texture Classification
Food Texture Classification
The chewing ability of the elderly is often not as good as that of the young. Food with soft texture can help the elderly eat better and absorb nutrients. This week’s course introduces the grading of food texture in detail.
Week 3
Application of Food Processing Technologies
Application of Food Processing Technologies
Elderly people often have nutritional needs. When softening food, they should consider how to preserve nutrients and adopt different processing methods for different ingredients.
Week 4
Current Situation in the Geriatric Food Market
Current Situation in the Geriatric Food Market
Through understanding of existing products, we help students who are interested in developing novel foods for the elderly to analyze the advantages and disadvantages of products for the target group.
Week 5
Design of Geriatric Food
Design of Geriatric Food
The design of meals for the elderly must take into account the physiological and nutritional status, psychological and socioeconomic conditions of the elderly.
Week 6
Homemade Geriatric Food
Homemade Geriatric Food
Introducing the key points of poetry for seniors, allowing you to prepare customized meals for your family at home.
Healthy food podcast and reality show
The teacher's own family experience brings out the importance of food for the elderly, and by actually showing the portions of food, we can understand food for the elderly.
Assessment and course feedback
The course will end here. If you want to earn a Certificate of Achievement on this course, please take the test for a quick review. You are welcome to leave any feedback and rethink how to bring it forward.
When would you like to start?
Start straight away and join a global classroom of learners. If the course hasn’t started yet you’ll see the future date listed below.
Available now
Learning on this course
On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.
What will you achieve?
By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...
- Identify the physiological and nutritional of aging
- Describe the standards for texture-modified food both domestically and internationally.
- Classify the food processing techniques for production of geriatric food
- Apply the knowledge and information gained to design meals for the elderly.
Who is the course for?
This course is designed for healthcare professionals, food researchers, family caregivers, and anyone interested in elderly nutrition and meal design. No prior knowledge is needed to join.
Who will you learn with?
Ways to learn | Buy this course | Subscribe & save | Limited access |
---|---|---|---|
Choose the best way to learn for you! | $109/one-off payment | $244.99 for a whole year Automatically renews | Free |
Fulfill your current learning need | Develop skills to further your career | Sample the course materials | |
Access to this course | tick | tick | Access expires 20 Mar 2025 |
Access to 1,000+ courses | cross | tick | cross |
Learn at your own pace | tick | tick | cross |
Discuss your learning in comments | tick | tick | tick |
Certificate when you're eligible | Printed and digital | Digital only | cross |
Cancel for free anytime |
Ways to learn
Choose the best way to learn for you!
Subscribe & save
$244.99 for a whole year
Automatically renews
Develop skills to further your career
- Access to this course
- Access to 1,000+ courses
- Learn at your own pace
- Discuss your learning in comments
- Digital certificate when you're eligible
Cancel for free anytime
Buy this course
$109/one-off payment
Fulfill your current learning need
- Access to this course
- Learn at your own pace
- Discuss your learning in comments
- Printed and digital certificate when you’re eligible
Limited access
Free
Sample the course materials
- Access expires 20 Mar 2025
Find out more about certificates, Unlimited or buying a course (Upgrades) Sale price available until 3 March 2025 at 23:59 (UTC). T&Cs apply. |
Find out more about certificates, Unlimited or buying a course (Upgrades)
Sale price available until 3 March 2025 at 23:59 (UTC). T&Cs apply.
Learning on FutureLearn
Your learning, your rules
- Courses are split into weeks, activities, and steps to help you keep track of your learning
- Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities
- Stay motivated by using the Progress page to keep track of your step completion and assessment scores
Join a global classroom
- Experience the power of social learning, and get inspired by an international network of learners
- Share ideas with your peers and course educators on every step of the course
- Join the conversation by reading, @ing, liking, bookmarking, and replying to comments from others
Map your progress
- As you work through the course, use notifications and the Progress page to guide your learning
- Whenever you’re ready, mark each step as complete, you’re in control
- Complete 90% of course steps and all of the assessments to earn your certificate
Want to know more about learning on FutureLearn? Using FutureLearn
Do you know someone who'd love this course? Tell them about it...
More courses you might like
Learners who joined this course have also enjoyed these courses.
Browse more in Healthcare & Medicine