Aktivt åldrande – individuellt anpassade måltidslösningar för hälsa och livskvalitet hos äldre: slutrapport

In Sweden, as most parts of the world, the proportion of elderly is increasing. Thenumber of the elderly will shortly exceed the number of younger people. Between2010 and 2030, the number of Europeans aged over 65 will rise by nearly 40%.According to the UN, the increase in life expectancy is mainly due toimprovements in nutrition and hygiene. The growing number of older peopleposes major challenges, but also opportunities for society, business andentrepreneurship.Health issues, primarily food, and quality of life are in focus and strongly relatedto autonomy. It should be possible to live an active and independent life, andpossible to make independent choices, regardless of age, disease and disability.This adds to Quality of Life! To achieve this we created a project in collaborationbetween partners from academia, research institutes, business, industry andsociety. The idea was in a first step to identify target groups along with their needsand desires. Then to design foods and meals adapted to the elderly’s needs andpreferences. Further to develop packaging of the meals that can be used forinformation as well as in the distribution chain. The project invented value chainsfor different types of ordering and distribution of the foods and meals as well as toinclude waste management. The outcome of the project are new knowledge aswell as food products available on the market and other products soon ready to beput on the market.