Preprint Article Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

Exploring the Experience and Determinants of the Food Choices and Eating Practices of Elderly Thai People: A Qualitative Study

Chalobol Chalermsri
* ORCID logo ,
Sibylle Herzig van Wees
ORCID logo ,
Shirin Ziaei
ORCID logo ,
Eva-Charlotte Ekström
ORCID logo ,
Weerasak Muangpaisan
ORCID logo ,
Syed Moshfiqur Rahman
ORCID logo
Version 1 : Received: 1 October 2020 / Approved: 2 October 2020 / Online: 2 October 2020 (12:23:26 CEST)

A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.

Chalermsri, C.; Herzig van Wees, S.; Ziaei, S.; Ekström, E.-C.; Muangpaisan, W.; Rahman, S.M. Exploring the Experience and Determinants of the Food Choices and Eating Practices of Elderly Thai People: A Qualitative Study. Nutrients 2020, 12, 3497. Chalermsri, C.; Herzig van Wees, S.; Ziaei, S.; Ekström, E.-C.; Muangpaisan, W.; Rahman, S.M. Exploring the Experience and Determinants of the Food Choices and Eating Practices of Elderly Thai People: A Qualitative Study. Nutrients 2020, 12, 3497.

Abstract

Over the past decade, Thailand has experienced a rapid increase in its elderly population. Many unfavorable health outcomes among elderly people are associated with nutrition. Nutrition in elderly people is affected by physical, mental, and social factors. This study explored the food choices and dietary practices among community-dwelling elderly people in Thailand from the perspective of both caregivers and the elderly people themselves. Six focus group discussions and six semi-structured interviews were conducted in the Samut Sakhon Province of Thailand. A combination of deductive and inductive thematic analyses was adopted, and the results show that physical and mental factors and societal factors are important determinants of food choices. Moreover, a changing food environment and economic factors were found to affect food choices. Issues of trust in food safety and food markets were highlighted as growing issues. Therefore, fostering healthy food choice interventions that consider both environmental and societal aspects is necessary.

Keywords

food choice; elderly people; healthy diet; caregiver; Thailand

Subject

Biology and Life Sciences, Food Science and Technology

Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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