Millions of over 60s have an unhealthier diet than ever – because their kids have left home, a study has found.

After years of eating a healthy, balanced diet to cater for, and set a good example to their children, pensioners are now turning to ready meals and snacks to get them through the day instead.

60% admit to skipping breakfast at least once a week while almost 80% have a day a week where they don’t eat lunch. In fact, the average over 60 skips two breakfasts, two lunches and one evening meal each week.

On top of that, they also replace one breakfast, two lunches and one dinner with a simple snack. 62% claimed to regularly ditching a full meal in favour of a piece of toast, packet of crisps or even just a cup of tea or coffee.

And almost one in 10 never sit down to a home-cooked meal, with one in twenty only making an effort to cook something when they have visitors.

No longer needing to worry about what their children eat was among the top reasons for letting their diet slip along with health issues, not feeling as hungry as they used to and living alone.

The study of 2,000 over 60s by Seven Seas Cod Liver Oil found 43% admit their diet isn’t always that healthy. One in 10 admit they regularly over-eat, while more than a fifth go to the other extreme and say they tend to under-eat.

Not being hungry in the mornings is the most common reason for not having a hearty breakfast, along with being happy to settle for a cup of tea or coffee or struggling to get going first thing.

But 48% of over 60s admit their children flying the nest and leaving home is one of the reasons why they no longer put so much effort into eating a healthy diet at all times.

We interviewed Helen Bond , a dietician and Diana Moran – the Green Goddess.

PatienTalk.Org – Can I ask What you mean when you state millions of over 60’s have an unhealthy diet than ever before. Since when has this happened and why ?

Helen Bond – New research by Seven Seas has showed indeed that millions of over 60’s have a unhealthier diet than ever before. And that is perhaps because the kids have left home after years of eating healthy balanced diets catered for themselves and have set a good example to their children. Pensioners actually are turning their back to ready meals and snacks to get them throughout the day instead. I think its worrying news as a dietician that you know 60% of people admit to skipping breakfast at least once a week while almost 80% of people have a day in the week where they actually don’t have lunch as well so we are really missing out on vital opportunities to stock up on essential nutrients as they get into old age.

PatienTalk.Org – When did this become a problem and how long have or since when do people realise their diets have gone downhill?

Helen Bond – I don’t think people actually always realise their diets has gone downhill but what we can say is that people are living longer than ever before and its get news that people are living longer than ever before but it also means that over the 60’s the 70’s the 80-‘s that perhaps they are living alone and perhaps those eating occasions with the family have gone out of the window and more and more people are eating alone and that’s whys sometimes there is slips in the way that they eat.

Diana Moran – I mean I think this is quote natural because its bad but I can see why this happens I mean I’m 76 and my children have grown and flown, boys of 52 and 54 now and I’m on my own and it would be very easy for me not to bother but I suppose with my background I know for example I have got to eat my breakfast there is no way that I am going to skip my breakfast of muesli, fresh fruits , finely chopped bananas , orange juice because I need that to fuel my day , I live a busy life and a lot of people who are on their own are turning to those ready meals and snacks to get them through the day , they are tasking an easy option.

Helen Bond – And also as you get older the way we actually taste, smell, our actual thirst signals all change. That also dictates what we are actually eating from breakfast, lunch to the evening meal.

Diana Moran – And therefore something that worries me enormously is that there are more 80 year olds than there are more 18 year olds is that as we get older our bones get weaker, it’s a natural thing that happens after about the age of 35 but if in actual fact someone’s diet doesn’t contain vitamin d and enough calcium because those two go together to help build and maintain strong bones then there is going to be a problem with osteoporosis and if there’s a problem with osteoporosis the chances are somebody is going to slip, have a fracture and that going to really change their quality of life.

PatienTalk.Org –What part does gender play in this situation?

Helen Bond – Well I certainly think that speaking form a women that women have the natural advantage of having the hormones of Estrogen which after the menopause sadly the Estrogen levels tend to drop off and that does cause changes, Estrogen is really protective of pour bones so after we hit menopause we start to lose bone mass , we naturally lose bone mass as we get older anyway so men will even lose bone mass but after the menopause there is a much higher risk of developing Osteoporosis so it’s even more important that a diet contains enough vitamin D and also calcium to maintain those bones as they get older.

Diana Moran – And one tea spoon of cod liver oil is the same as omega 3 as a portion of oily fish and more Vitamin D than those two eggs that they might be having.

PatienTalk.Org – So if women generally have more Estrogen to help with their bones would they not naturally have stronger bones than men when they get to that age already?

Helen Bond – Well it depends very much, the strength of our bones as Diana said is the length of our bones is actually determined when your about 18 and then we start of kind bone mass up until the late 20’s but after about the age of 35 we start to lose bone mass and that very much depends on genetics and can depend on your diet, how healthy was your diet in those early years, did you have enough calcium rich food, did you have enough diary in there and also did you have enough Vitamin d to help the3 absorption of calcium.

Diana Moran – And also of course, this is where exercise comes in, to help maintain strong bones well actually to help build strong bones when you are a youngster you have to do weight bearing exercise now this does not mean going into a gym , pumping iron , this means having the weight of your body on your legs, your hips, your spine in particular and that builds strong bones and that’s called weight bearing exercise and weight bearing exercise is simple things like skipping , running , jumping or brisk walking and most of us can do that brisk walking.

Helen Bond – Yes it is so it’s very much dieting and lifestyle and just adding to what Diana said about exercising also goes hand in hand about smoking and alcohol and the other things that cause problems with our bones in later life.

Diana Moran –How do you account for the rise in Type 2 diabetes in the older population and what is the evidence that diet rather than genetics and the natural insulin resistance of old age?

Helen Bond – So with regards to Type 2 diabetes it’s also called maturity onset diabetes and often it happens as we get older in life and it very much comes with insulin resistance , now you get insulin when you got type 2 diabetes the body still produces insulin which regulates our blood sugar levels and keeps them within the healthy range but when you have got insulin resistance its making it harder for the insulin in the body actually producing to work effectively so sometimes blood sugar levels high in the blood and that can cause long term damage and that what type 2 diabetes is.

Now that goes hand in hand in terms with weight because sadly as a nation we are getting slightly fatter or overweight and if you are overweight or obsess than you are more likely to have visceral fat which is intra-abdominal fat, fat surrounding the organs and that is linked to insulin resistance which again is a pre-curser for type 2 diabetes and I think what concerns me most as a dietician is that type 2 diabetes which we normally associate with onset is even being seen in teenagers so there has never been a better time to actually look after your weight and make sure you are eating a healthy and balanced diet and lifestyle and looking after your portion sizes and exercising as well to maintain your weight.

Diana Moran – And I was just going to say inactivity and old age are not the same thing and therefore what we need to do as we are getting older is regular moderate activity or exercise, whatever word we want to call it there, about 30 minutes doing the gardening, going for a walk three times a week will keep us more healthy and we need regular moderate exercise and if we do that there is going to be 3 benefits and they all begin with S, one of them is Stamina that’s our heart and lungs that are going to be much healthy in that respect, the second is strength to have strong muscles to get us up and down stairs and to keep us walking and then we also have to have suppleness that means to bend and stretch , pick up the grandchildren , turn ourselves round, put on the seat belts when we are in our car, it’s really important to keep active.

PatienTalk.Org – In terms of keeping active what if your slightly older and you suffer from chronic pain or a lack of mobility, how can you keep active then ?

Diana Moran – That is more difficult , shall we say that somebody is now wheelchair bound and maybe they are not able to use their legs as they did previously it is really important to keep their upper body string as well to keep their upper body supple so there are chair bound exercises that can be done to maintain this.

PatienTalk.Org – How would dementia impact on other aspects such as obesity?

Helen Bond – That’s quite a tricky question to answer that but we certainty know with regards to omega 3 , omega 3’s are a type of essential of polyunsaturated fatty acids and we know omega 3 is in abundance of oily fish so herring , sardines and fresh tuna, we know that we should be eating about two portions of fish a week , one of which should be oily and sadly we are not making that quota , we eat about a third of that portion at the moment , now omega 3 we know helps maintain healthy brain function , they are also great for our vision and also maintaining a healthy heart now emerging evidence shows that they may be beneficial in terms of helping of slow down cognitive decline but obviously more evidence needs to be done before firm conclusions can be made but in the meantime keep up with your omega 3 foods by having a portion of oily fish and if you don’t like oily fish or it doesn’t suit you then do have a supplement of cod liver oil because you will get a great source, Its one of the richest sources of omega 3s, the long chain omega 3 the EPA and the DHA which like I said helps maintain healthy brain function.

Diana Moran – And there’s really simple goodness in every drop if cod liver oil isn’t there and it helps fuel younger for longer.

Helen Bond – That is and we even know that cod liver oil is a great source of vitamin d and again vitamin d merging research has shown its great for the mood and how you feel and your mental wellbeing link.

Diana Moran – Incidentally on that business on vitamin, vitamin d occurs as naturally in sunshine but I for example over did the sunshine in my 50’s, 60’s and 70’s and 10 – 12 years later I was found to have skin cancer so I can’t go out in the sun or sunbathe anymore so therefore I supplement my diet with vitamin d which is another form a natural form of well it’s the sunshine and vitamin isn’t it.