However, Dementia can have the opposite effect. Short tem memory issues can often mean that individuals simply do not remember that they have eaten a snack or meal. messages between the brain and stomach are affected, and the sensation of being full is lost. This combined with short term memory loss, can result in an individual constantly requesting food, or stating that they have not eaten for long periods of time When in fact, they have. Some individuals will be unable to recognise the food that they are given, and can forget to eat or drink.
Secondly, functional changes that may occur with someone with dementia is that they may have had a stroke or have weakness in using limbs which would affect them using utensils such as a knife and fork for instance not having the strength to lift the fork to their mouth. Or they may have lost strength within the swallowing or chewing, this would significantly affect a person in reference to eating drinking and nutrition. This can lead to a person not being able to eat and therefore losing weight and possibly malnourished and becoming dehydrated. Thirdly, emotional changes can affect eating, drinking and nutrition in a huge way. For instance people with dementia can be affected by grief as in the most common of circumstances they are elderly and may have suffered the loss of a partner.
DEM 302 Understanding and meet the nutritional requirements of individuals with dementia. 1.1 Describe how cognitive, functional and emotional changes associated with dementia can affect eating. If the individuals cognitive ability is impaired they could forget to eat and drink, as well as think that they haven’t been fed, we might think they had a drink or eaten their food where as they might have tipped their drink down the sink or thrown their food away. If the functional ability changes it could mean that they can’t hold cutlery or hold a drink, therefore unable to feed themselves or feed themselves properly. When the emotional state changes they may become stressed and not want to eat or drink and may also forget that they need to
Each service user is different and they all like/ dislike different foods. Some service users are able to tell staff as to what they do and don’t like. As for some individuals have difficulties explaining things, but some information like this will more than likely be found on their own care plan. Also some service users may have other things to be aware of such as diabetes eating less sugary things or bad oral hygiene not allowing them to eat solid foods. In this case I would seek guidance for their care plan and GP as to what is acceptable for them to be having.
The same will apply to drinking. With older people who are prone to malnutrition and dehydration this can become more of a problem with Dementia putting their health at risk. Functional problems - affecting ability to carry out normal daily activities such as washing, dressing, and cooking meals Functional changes is losing the ability to remember how to eat or using utensils and drinking implements and instead might be better encouraged to pick up food buffet style or finger food. This might be as a way to overcome their loss of ability to function as they once did and rather than become distressed and confused they prefer to just pick up food. If this is preferred then to promote their dignity food presented for that function should be laid out.
Understand and meet the nutritional requirements of individuals with dementia Unit 4222-366: Amy Shanks Outcome 1 Understand the nutritional needs that are unique to indivivuals with dementia 1. Inability to express one's needs or desires, ability to hold or use utensils, remembing to eat and distinguish the food from the plate, to suffer from a vision impairment, hearing loss, to maintain appropriate posture (sit upright)have the inability to move food inside the mouth, chewing or swallowing problems, depression, distress, excessive pacing that may increase calorie use, having difficulty sitting down for meals can contribute to poor diet and fluid intake, healthy nutrition for an individual with dementia 2. An individual with dementia who is suffering from poor nutrition can have an increase in behavioral symptoms and suffer from weight loss 3. Other health and emotional conditions: chronic diseases that decrease appetite, such as diabetes, bowel and cardiac problems, also certain medications can decrease appetite. The environment can have effects such as noise, confusion, too much visual stimulation, poor lighting, unpleasant odours, and uncomfortable room temperature 4. it is important to recognise and meet an individuals personal and cultural preferences concerning food and drink as the individual could find the food unappealing, have difficulty eating the foods that are offered due to smells, flavours and textures, difficulty can also arise if too many foods are offered at one time 5.
Too much fat in a person’s diet can also cause disease when over consumed. Too many carbohydrates can lead to obesity and an increase in calories. Just as much as too many macronutrients is not good for a person too little has its effects too. If a person continually eats too little protein he or she can become susceptible to disease, it can cause a person to develop anemia, dry skin can develop and in women their bones can become brittle. If a person does not have enough carbs in his or her diet, he or she lacks needed calories that is also known as malnutrition.
Some people experience a difference of ageing compared to others. Physical changes can happen to the skin, bones joints and muscles which are: • The skin becomes thinner and more wrinkled • Bones become less dense and more likely to fracture easily • Joints becomes stiffer and may become painful as the cartilage on the bone ends become looser • The ligaments which reinforce joints become more rounded Sense: The sense of balance will become impaired. Also your ability taste and smell can deteriorate. With your vision it can deteriorate because of a range of problems and cataract will develop. Organs: The muscles in the digestive tract become weak which creates a risk of constipation.
Often just knowing that we are thirsty as opposed to hungry will lead to a better choice being made in selecting drink over food. As cognitive function deteriorates in the dementia patient these decisions are obviously effected more so. In the extreme a dementia patient will not realise that they are dehydrated or that they are hungry and will go without food and drink for longer periods then perhaps is healthy unless they are prompted by their carers to receive nutrition This factor must also be balanced against the fact that older, sentient, people often need less food and drink then younger more active people and a good carer will also be conscious of this Dementia can effect the choices that a person makes on the type of food they want to eat. For example we have a lady called Joyce who prefers foods (and drinks) that are white. (She also prefers her chair to be white so you can see the level of dementia being dealt with here).
Cespedes (2015), “Lack of proper nutrients can limit the body's immunity, limit the body's ability to rebuild itself from daily punishment so that your muscles do not rebuild, it can because you to have bowel problems, infections, decreases your ability to think and remember things. So essentially without proper nutrients, vitamins, and the building blocks of life such as protein, your body can wither away.” After doing this little experiment I have learned many things about my diet and eating habits. I know a lot of my inputs were based on time restraints on what I had going on over the weekend. So one thing about having a healthy balanced diet isn’t just eating proper, but making time and changing your lifestyle to be able to eat proper. Personally for me, I would need to add more servings of vegetables and fruit on a daily basis and eliminate the amount of cholesterol intake that I have been using.