Interventions to support healthy eating in later life

Significant evidence indicates that an unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, and other factors such as social conditions contribute significantly to the accelerated molecular and cellular damage associated with aging, whereas a healthier diet, regular physical activity, not smoking, and drinking sensibly may reduce the accumulation of damage, slow the aging process, and delay or prevent the development of age-related frailty, disability, and disease. Developing effective interventions to enhance health and well-being in later life is currently a public health priority. In this chapter we review the evidence that better nutrition enhances healthy aging and report initial findings from two recent research programs-Food4Me, which tested the utility of personalized interventions to promote healthier dietary habits, and the LiveWell research program, which developed and delivered Web-based lifestyle interventions targeting people of retirement age.