A survey of the dietary energy intake (EI) by 20 healthy subjects (8 males and 12 females) aged 85 years and over living in Sayama city, Saitama prefecture, was carried out by recording their daily intake of dietary energy (calories), essential nutrients, including carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins and minerals, and of 15 groups of food.
The average energy intake (EI) was 1987 kcal by the male subjects and 1673 kcal by the female subjects. The difference in amount between EI and the average estimated energy requirement (EER) was ＋64 kcal for the male subjects and ＋58 kcal for the female subjects.
The protein, fat and carbohydrate energy ratios were 15.8％, 21.9％ and 60.2％ for the male subjects, and 15.0％, 22.9％ and 61.8％ for the female subjects, each being within the normal range of the 2010 Dietary Reference Intake (DRI) values for the Japanese.
The average intake of vitamins and minerals by the subjects compared to the 2010 DRI values was significantly higher, except for calcium, zinc, manganese and retinol. An excessive intake of sodium chloride was apparent by both the male and female subjects when compared with the intake by people aged 70 years and older reported in the 2011 National Health and Nutrition Survey of Japan.
The average intake of 15 groups of food was also measured. Among these, the average intake of seeds and nuts (3.9 g by males and 6.8 g by females), of vegetables (353.7 g by males and 377.8 g by females) and of fruits (194.1 g by males and 234.9 by females) was considerably higher than that by people aged 70 years and older reported in the 2011 National Health and Nutrition Survey of Japan.
