It is estimated that early in the next century, one in five U.S. Americans will be over the age of 65. The increasing number of elderly will present new challenges to those concerned with their physical and emotional well-being. One area of concern is that a nutritional adequacy. However, the interaction between nutrition and the aging process has received limited attention. Some evidence suggest that while, in general, nutritional status is not significantly altered with aging per se, certain age-related conditions may put the elderly at risk for nutritional inadequacy. There is evidence to suggest that elderly individuals may respond differently to external factors, such as long term prescription drug therapy, illness, or alcohol consumption. Although the effects of abusive alcohol consumption on nutritional status in the elderly have been studied extensively, moderate intake has received less attention. This is an important public health issue since recently there has been substantial media attention given to the """"""""possible"""""""" protective effects of moderate alcohol consumption in younger populations. On the other hand, there is some evidence to suggest that moderate alcohol consumption in elderly individuals may result in nutritional deficiencies. It is the specific aim of the experiments proposed in this application to evaluate the impact of moderate alcohol consumption on the nutritional status in the healthy elderly. We hypothesize that there are differences in nutrient intakes and biochemical values between free living elderly who moderately consume alcohol and non-drinkers. Individuals 60 years of age or older will be recruited from California senior and community centers. Subjects will be recruited into one of two groups: (1) non-drinkers, those consuming less than 2 drinks/week and (2) those consuming moderate alcohol, greater than or equal to 2 drinks/day but less than 21 drinks/week. A brief questionnaire will be self administered to gather information on present and past alcohol use, dietary habits (including a food frequency list), and demographics. Study participants will be asked to keep a three day food record in order to assess dietary intake. Blood will be drawn from subjects after an overnight fast to assess nutritional status. Serum total cholesterol, HDL-C, LDL-C, triglycerides, thiamin, riboflavin, folate, RBC folate, B12, vitamin A, vitamin E, iron, zinc, copper, hemoglobin and hematocrit will be determined. The decision to measure these indices is based on previous studies reporting alcohol-induced alterations in their values. While the above mentioned studies found effects of excessive alcohol consumption, what is considered moderate consumption in a younger population may be excessive in an elderly one, thus, we may expect to see such alterations in our elderly sample consuming moderate amounts of alcohol.
