This study was carried out to investigate the status of food and nutrient intakes by the types of chronic disease for the elderly people at welfare centers in Seoul. The total subjects were 299 elderly over 60 years (82 men and 217 women) and grouped by disease status: normal, cardiovascular disease (CVD), diabetes mellitus (DM) and arthritis. Also, they are classified into 3 groups by the number of diseases they have: single group(1 disease), multiple group(more than 1 disease), and normal group. The dietary intakes were obtained by 24-hour recall and analysed by CAN-Pro 4.0, and compared with dietary reference intakes for Koreans. In the results of anthropometric data according to chronic disease, waist circumference of normal group in male and female was lower than the disease groups and especially normal group in female showed lower level of waist-hip ratio(WHR), body mass index (BMI) and body fat % than the disease groups. Arthritis group showed higher intake of milk product than the other groups (p<0.05) consequently calcium intake was significantly higher in arthritis group than the other groups. (p<0.001) Vitamin A intake of arthritis group was significantly higher than normal and DM groups(p<0.01). Normal and arthritis groups showed significantly higher intake of zinc and copper than CVD group. (p<0.01) In general, about 80% of this study subjects showed insufficient intakes of riboflavin, vitamin C, calcium, dietary fiber, vitamin D, biotin and potassium, compared with estimated average requirement (EAR) or adequate intake (AI). The subjects of this study were classified into three groups depending on the number of diseases they were suffering from. The normal group was 52 subjects, the single disease group was 157 subjects and the multiple disease group was 90 subjects. In male, normal group showed significantly lower WHR (p<0.05) and blood glucose level than single and multiple disease group (p<0.001). In female, multiple disease group showed significantly higher WHR (p<0.05), body fat % (p<0.01), BMI (p<0.05) and blood glucose level (p<0.001) than normal group. Vitamin D intake in single disease group was significantly lower than normal group (p<0.05). Zinc and copper intake in multiple disease group was significantly lower than normal group (p<0.01). In the case of vitamin D, 92% of single disease group did not meet the Adequate Intake level, which is significantly higher than 77% in normal group.
The lack of a balanced diet as well as insufficient intake of nutrients will negatively affect health and the development of chronic diseases. In order to lead a healthy disease free life, especially in old age, it is important to develop a healthy diet. Therefore, we suggest that the dietary guidelines to reduce the intakes of salty food and to increase the intake of food with sufficient calcium, vitamin D and vitamin C are necessary to the improvement of eating habits for elderly people.