Schmidt K
Universität Tübingen.
Zentralbl Hyg Umweltmed. 1991 Mar;191(2-3):327-32.
In western industrial countries the proportion of elderly people is 15 to 20% of the total population with an increasing tendency. This fact is in contrast to a remarkable gap of knowledge on the process of ageing per se, nutritional influences, and particularly interrelationships with specific disease states such as multimorbidity of elderly people. It is obvious that the elderly people do require health care and social support to a much greater extent than other groups of a society. Also, multidisciplinary approaches are required in order to successfully perform research projects in this complex area. Finally, the economical significance of this particular problem of preventive medicine is tremendous. Micronutrients such as vitamins, minerals, and trace elements do play an important role in maintaining the metabolic homeostasis in elderly people as well as in the prevention of many age-associated diseases.
在西方工业国家，老年人占总人口的比例为15%至20%，且呈上升趋势。这一事实与人们对衰老过程本身、营养影响，尤其是与老年人多种疾病等特定疾病状态之间相互关系的认知存在显著差距形成对比。显然，老年人比社会中的其他群体更需要医疗保健和社会支持。此外，为了在这个复杂领域成功开展研究项目，需要多学科方法。最后，预防医学这一特殊问题具有巨大的经济意义。维生素、矿物质和微量元素等微量营养素在维持老年人的代谢稳态以及预防许多与年龄相关的疾病方面发挥着重要作用。
