Adherence to the healthy eating guide issued by the Sociedad Espanola de Nutricion Comunitaria (SENC) (2018) among non-institutionalized elderly in Santander, Spain

Introduction: the aging of the Spanish population has increased in the last decades; in Santander, 24,73 % of the population are elderly people. Adherence to the recommendations for a healthy diet in this group has been associated with improved health status and quality of life. Objectives: to assess the degree of adherence to the recommendations issued by the Healthy Eating Guide for Primary Care and Citizen Groups of the SENC (2018) in a non-institutionalized population sample between 65 and 79 years of age in the municipality of Santander (Spain). Methods: this was a cross-sectional, observational and descriptive study. A total of 317 individuals aged 71.8 (2 4.1) years, attending three Primary Care Centers (CAP) of the Cantabrian Health Service (SCS), participated. A self-developed questionnaire was extracted from the 2018 SENC Guide recommendations. The relationship between two independent qualitative variables was analyzed using the chi-squared test, considering significant a p-value < 0.5. Results: adherence to the recommendations in foods for daily consumption was: water (23 %). cereals and potatoes (12,9 %), fruits (50,2 %), vegetables (16,7 %), olive oil (61,8 %) and dairy products (39,1 %). For weekly-consumption foods it was: fish (12 %), white meats (17 %), eggs (19,9 %), legumes (75,1 %) and nuts (36,9 %). Conclusions: the results obtained show a low adherence to SENC recommendations except for legumes. For this reason, it is necessary to influence this population group in order to improve their dietary habits.