11.14: Nutrition and Medications

The use of medications increases with age, and many medications used by elderly individuals have adverse effects on nutrition. However, the effects of some medications and combinations of medications are not well understood. Other factors, such as age-related modifications in the body's storage, metabolism, and elimination of medications, further complicate the effects of medications on nutrition.

Medications may alter nutrition by affecting many factors. These include mental or emotional state; physical ability and coordination; food selection (because of incompatibility with a medication or its schedule of administration); appetite; the senses of taste and smell; GI tract secretions and motility; GI tract bacteria; and nutrient absorption, storage, use or elimination. Conversely, foods can decrease the effectiveness of some medications by reducing their absorption by the GI tract (e.g., antibiotics) and can increase the effects of medications by reducing their elimination by the liver.

Many other age-related factors contribute to an age-related increase in the number and the severity of problems from medications. Examples include age-related increases in use of non-prescription drugs; number of medications taken per person; number of physicians and pharmacies used per person; decrements in sensation and cognition; erroneous compliance.

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