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Practical Strategies: Nourishing Liquid Diet

Columbus, OH

Lynda Gluch, and Mary Casper

HCR Manor Care
Toledo, OH

The aging population is increasingly subject to dementia. All types and etiologies of dementia result in impaired memory, personality changes, and loss of cognitive function. Success with oral intake is often affected as dementia progresses. The individual with dementia may have issues with self-feeding, recognizing food, maintaining attention, persistence of action, or apraxia—all of which affect the ability to chew and swallow safely and effectively (Advisory Panel on Alzheimer's Disease, 1993). The patient's ability to maintain adequate nutritional status through eating by mouth may be lost as dementia progresses (Chouinard et al., 1998).

Caregivers and professionals may find themselves in a practical dilemma—how to provide nutritional intake and allow the patient to continue to eat by mouth safely and successfully while also overcoming the complicating factors present with dementia. In our organization, our dietitians developed an approach that offers a nutritional alternative to tube feeding—the nourishing liquid diet.