Today’s Dietitian
Vol. 27 No. 7 P. 14
The idea of healthy aging goes beyond individual biometrics and expands into global impact as the number of older adults grows. Per a report in Advances in Nutrition, the number of people aged 65+ will double, and the number of people over 85 will triple within the next two decades.1 Worldwide, older adults could number as many as 2.1 billion by 2050.2 However, there has been an inverse relationship between aging and health. Statistically speaking, the number of years people have lived with diminished health and a less-than-ideal quality of life has increased over the past three decades.3
As our population dynamics shift, it’s crucial to understand what this means on the local, national, and global stage. The United Nations Decade of Healthy Ageing (2021 to 2030) unpacks what makes someone healthy and offers strategies for how to enrich the lives of older adults and their communities.4
WHO’s Decade of Healthy Ageing
The United Nations Decade of Healthy Ageing was born out of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) acknowledgement that individuals don’t age in a vacuum, and that often their quality of life doesn’t increase proportionally to their age. Many different organizations, from government to media to private sector to academia, are participating in the Healthy Ageing Collaborative, whose goal is to support a world where everyone can live longer, healthier lives by promoting the meaningful inclusion of older adults through a human rights-based approach.5 The four primary action areas that support this initiative include age-friendly environments, combatting ageism, integrated care, and long term care.4 The main objective is to alter the way we as a society approach aging using a multifactorial approach with social and health care at the core.6 It’s a modern functional model, focusing first on quality of life and the ability to engage socially, emotionally, and mentally at a high level.6
Who It’s Targeting
The Decade of Healthy Ageing is primarily focused on individuals aged 60 years or older. The primary action areas break down this demographic further by focusing on the physical and social environments older adults are inhabiting, exploring perceptions both individually and globally surrounding ageism, expanding long term care services to include assisted care services (which would also encompass social supports), and a blended approach to health care.4 This blended approach to health care is the most applicable to dietitians, as many of the physiological declines described relate to nutrition.4 The ultimate goal in this multiprong approach to support healthy aging is to shift the cultural and societal perceptions of aging and improve overall quality of life.
Nutrition’s Role in Healthy Aging
As individuals age, there are nutrition-specific themes that emerge. Focusing on the inclusion of nutrient-dense foods like produce, lean meats, seafood, plant-based proteins, dairy foods, and healthful fats is key to combating chronic disease, much like supporting sustainable food production and taking a critical eye to our food systems to prevent food insufficiency and malnutrition.2 Sarcopenia and osteoporosis are also areas of concern, as adults over the age of 60 are susceptible to bone density loss and up to 3% loss of muscle mass each year.7 This is particularly important as muscle mass impacts functional activities of daily living, and maintaining and increasing muscle mass may aid in fall prevention.7 The incidence of osteoporosis also increases with each decade, with 20% of women over the age of 70, 40% of women over the age of 80, and 67% of women over the age of 90 being diagnosed.7 Several of the Decade of Healthy Ageing objectives are directly correlated with activities of daily living, which underscore the importance of nutrition.
Dietitians can play a key role in supporting the Decade of Healthy Ageing by looking at the different ways to get involved at the initiative’s website: www.who.int/initiatives/decade-of-healthy-ageing. There are opportunities to partner with organizations and networks worldwide and to see who is involved in your sector, community, or action area of interest.5 If advocacy work or research, and collaboration aren’t options, RDs can continue to educate themselves on developments with the Decade of Healthy Ageing and programs that may be implemented locally.
On an individual level, expanding nutrition education beyond treating chronic disease and including a preventative approach to maintaining adequate nutrition is key. For example, RDs can use the Dietary Guidelines to establish nutrients of concern in this population and provide education accordingly, whether that is in 1:1 counseling, group sessions, or content creation. For 1:1 nutrition education, it’s important to remember that many insurance plans cover MNT for preventive services. RDs not connected to a hospital or health care system may need to collaborate with other health care providers to receive referrals and market their services. Enhancing individual skillsets through continuing education for the geriatric population is also important, as several billion potential clients worldwide will fall into that age range by 2050.
Strategies and Implementation
Improving nutrition and health for older adults requires global cooperation between the WHO, governments, nongovernmental organizations, and health care systems, and using a cross-sector approach that includes housing, transportation, food systems, and social care. Some of the proposed real-world strategies include community meal programs, nutrition education, policy changes like sugar taxes, caregiver training, and the use of assistive technology to support independent living and reduce social isolation.4 Specific to nutrition, a nutrient-dense diet and other healthful lifestyle interventions can lengthen life by up to a decade.8 Ultimately, the most impactful change will occur when we alter the physical environment to be more inclusive and supportive, as well as increase access to high-quality research.
Current research blind spots that may hamper efforts include a lack of age-specific research in older adults, as well as inclusive research that accurately reflects the ethnic and cultural diversity of the global aging population.1 There is also little information on 60% of the global aging population, as they reside in low to middle-income countries where regular research surrounding healthy aging isn’t conducted.6 Research in nontraditional housing is also lacking, as many older adults who are homeless, institutionalized, or imprisoned are not included in national surveys regarding health.6
Looking Ahead
Metrics to measure success look like longitudinal, nationally representative surveys at the population level with publicly available data.4 Though the focus of the Decade of Healthy Ageing is primarily on adults over the age of 60, clinicians know that quality nutrition throughout the lifespan is key to shaping a healthier population. By combining MNT with environments created for and welcoming older adults, combating an attitude of societal ageism, integrating care for older adults in the health care system, and improving long term care options, the future is bright for the coming generation.
— Alexandria Hardy, RDN, LDN, is a writer, early intervention therapist, and the owner of Pennsylvania Nutrition Services, an insurance-based private practice located in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
References
1. Shea MK, Strath L, Kim M, et al. Perspective: promoting healthy aging through nutrition: a Research Centers Collaborative Network workshop report. Adv Nutr. 2024;15(4):100199.
2. Rodríguez-Mañas L, Murray R, Glencorse C, Sulo S. Good nutrition across the lifespan is foundational for healthy aging and sustainable development. Front Nutr. 2023;9:1113060.
3. Kassis A, Fichot MC, Horcajada MN, et al. Nutritional and lifestyle management of the aging journey: a narrative review. Front Nutr. 2023;9:1087505.
4. What is WHO’s role in the UN Decade of Healthy Ageing? World Health Organization website. https://www.who.int/initiatives/decade-of-healthy-ageing. Updated 2025. Accessed June 3, 2025.
5. The platform. Decade of Healthy Ageing website. https://www.decadeofhealthyageing.org/about/join-us/collaborative. Accessed June 3, 2025.
6. Thiyagarajan JA, Mikton C, Harwood RH, et al. The UN Decade of Healthy Ageing: strengthening measurement for monitoring health and wellbeing of older people. Age Ageing. 2022;51:1-5.
7. Global Coalition on Aging. Nutrition: a solution for the unprecedented challenge of 21st century aging. https://globalcoalitiononaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/GCOA-Nutricia_Nutrition-White-Paper_Final-Web1.pdf. Published 2018.
8. Hu FB. Diet strategies for promoting healthy aging and longevity: an epidemiological perspective. J Intern Med. 2024;295(4):508-531.
