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A training tool to improve sensory capacity and nutritional status of

elderly people is developed

Aged between 50 and 95 years in Spain, Czech Republic, Greece and Italy are involved in this

European project

(Valencia, 20/07/2016) The GYMSEN European project has developed a training tool to

improve sensory capacity and the nutritional status of elderly people. This project, which

involved 6 organizations from 5 European countries, aims at the conservation of sensory

capabilities of older people, especially the senses of taste and smell, as well as maintaining

cognitive ability, in order to prevent and / or retarding functional and cognitive impairment.

This training tool offers various activities, depending on the profile of each participant in the

project, to exercise sensory abilities in the elderly and slow down the degeneration of the

sense of taste and mainly the sense of smell associated with lack of appetite in aging.

Project development

To keep shape the capacity of sensory perception of the elderly and improve their well-being

and quality of life, questionnaires have been run to more than one hundred elders with four

different profiles and aged between 50 and 95 years, taking into account their health, activity

level and dependence level.

Previously, depending on each case, their teachers, therapists or caregivers have completed a

course with which they have acquired the knowledge about the management of tools, which

allows them to evaluate more effectively the results of sensory activities undertaken with

these old people.

Specifically, in Spain these exercises were conducted with a group of healthy and active

seniors. In the Czech Republic, the project has focused on a group of healthy people, but with

lower intensity activity, while in Greece the target group are patients with Alzheimer's disease

and in Italy elderly people admitted to centers or residences.

During periods of 9 to 12 weeks, the elders selected for this project took part in the training

sessions while their sensory capacities were exposed to different stimuli with different levels

of difficulty in order to know their level of identification and recognition of smells, tastes and

aromas; the description of odours, aromas flavours and tastes. Part of the programme are

also olfactory and gustatory memory games. In addition, the description of memories is also

done after smell, taste and manipulates different foods.

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Keep in shape the capacity of the sensory perception of our elderly people might prevent or

retarding their functional and cognitive impairment

The aging is accompanied by psychological and physiological changes leading to a decrease or

loss of senses. Experts estimate that about 90% of patients older than 80 years present

appetite disorders associated with decreased physical needs and to perceive the tastes and

smells differently.

The decrease in the sensory capacities, which allows us to distinguishing the organoleptic

characteristics in the food, increases the risk of malnutrition and the nutritional deficiencies of

the elderly people, and it might induce consequences as the loss of the appetite (hiporexia)

infections or other alterations with serious consequences for the health.

The GYMSEN project was co-financed by the ERASMUS+ Project, which is an EU programme

for education, training, youth and sport.

More information at www.gymsen.eu and https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/erasmus-plus_en.