The UCD Institute of Food and Health has today issued a report that it says highlights the threat of malnutrition to the over 65s in Ireland.
The report is published one year from a pan-European agreement, the Prague Declaration, on tackling malnutrition, which is estimated to cost Ireland €1.5 billion annually – 10 per cent of the entire health care budget.
The assessment notes Ireland signed up to the Prague Declaration but warns appreciation of malnutrition’s potential threat remains "dismally low" in Ireland.
Commenting, Prof Mike Gibney, director of the UCD Institute for Food and Health, said: "There have been very few studies in Ireland, despite the overwhelming evidence from the UK and internationally that it is a massive and very costly problem.
"As a result, it remains significantly under-recognised, under-detected and under-treated in older people, and is often seen as an inevitable consequence of ageing, which it is not.
"Malnutrition is eminently treatable in the vast majority of cases, but success depends on picking up those at risk early, and treating them without delay," he said.
According to the UCD Institute of Food and Health, 70,000 people over 65 could face a serious health risk if malnourished, as they are much more likely to be sick or die, while malnourished patients are also three times more likely to die six months of discharge from hospital.
More than one in four patients is already malnourished on admission to hospital, the institute said, adding studies show older patients with malnutrition on average have 65 per cent more GP visits and are about 80 per cent more likely to be admitted to hospital.
Prof Gibney said the report called on the Minister for Health, Mary Harney, to establish a national, multi-stakeholder and multi-agency nutrition task force to develop a co-ordinated approach to addressing the problem.
The report also call for a national screening programme to identify those at risk and treat them, a nutritional survey of older people and the assessment of cost benefits of earlier identification and treatment.