Nutritious and easy-to-swallow porridge for older adults

Lack of appetite, chewing problems, or swallowing difficulties can cause older people to not get all the nutrients their bodies need. Many of them need special diets and that’s where porridge for older adults comes into play. Check out more interesting articles on our site.

As with baby porridge, we can find them already prepared. The good thing is that these products are specifically adapted for the elderly.

• Guidelines, ingredients and preparation of cereal porridge

PORRIDGES FOR OLDER ADULTS ALREADY PREPARED

One of the brands that sells porridge for older adults is Nestlé. The company has a wide range of Adapted Basic Food (ABA) products. They are preparations with a high nutritional value and an adapted texture, ideal for meeting the needs of adults with difficulties in swallowing and chewing “safely and effectively”.

Among these products we find porridges for older adults specifically for breakfasts and snacks or for dinners.

Nestle baby food

• Porridge for breakfast and snacks : the options offered by Nestlé are ‘Resource Cereal Instant’ and ‘Resource Cereal Instant Lacteado’. Both are cereal creams with a high nutritional value and a smooth and homogeneous texture. They are also suitable for diabetics.
• Baby food for dinner : for the last meal of the day, the brand has ‘Resource Buenas Noches Instant’. According to the company, it is a cereal cream “rich in proteins, calcium, phosphorus and vitamin B2. No added sugars”.

Porridge FontActiv

For its part, Laboratorios Ordesa has the FontActic Cereales range , some porridges for older adults that we can find in three varieties:

• 8 cereals: made with wheat, rice, barley, rye, corn, millet, sorghum and oats.
• 8 Cocoa cereals (with Cola Cao 0%).
• Cream of Rice: do not contain gluten.

All three stand out for their high nutritional value, are adapted to the needs of the elderly and are enriched with 13 vitamins and minerals. Other advantages are, according to the company that makes them, the following:

• They have a high content of soluble fiber (FOS and Fibersol), so they favor intestinal transit.
• They have milk protein of high biological value.
• They are a good source of calcium, phosphorus and vitamin D, which contributes to the maintenance of bones.
• They are a source of zinc, selenium and vitamin C, which help to strengthen the immune system.
• They improve the functioning of the natural defenses of consumers.
• They do not have added sugars. That means they can be incorporated into diets where glucose intake is limited.
• Its taste is delicious”.
• They are very easy to prepare, since they do not need cooking.
• They can be dissolved in milk or water, so they can be consumed by older people who are lactose intolerant.

OTHER PORRIDGE FOR OLDER ADULTS

We can also prepare baby food for older adults as a complement to the main meals of the day. In fact, specialists recommend this option as an alternative to bread, for example.

cornstarch porridge

Taking as an example the guide on the diet of the elderly published by the Ministry of Health of the Xunta de Galicia, we see that specialists advise replacing bread with cornstarch porridge in case elderly people cannot chew well. Preparing it is as easy as following these steps:

1. We dissolve a tablespoon and a half of cornstarch in a little cold milk (half a cup is enough). Stir well until everything is well diluted and without lumps.

2. Heat in a saucepan over medium heat. When it starts to boil, add a cup of milk and half a teaspoon of vanilla essence.

3. Cook for one minute without stopping stirring to prevent lumps from coming out.

4. When we see that we have already achieved a consistent paste, remove from the heat.

5. Let stand a couple of minutes and serve with a little cinnamon sprinkled on top to give it more flavor.

fruit porridge

In case we want to prepare a fruit porridge, it is important not to exceed the quantities, and in the case of fruits with skin such as apples, pears or peaches, do not peel them.