Assessing the impact of nutrition interventions on health and nutrition outcomes of community-dwelling adults: a systematic review

Background: Malnutrition is pervasive in hospitalized patients and older adults. Although evidence shows the benefits of nutrition interventions in hospitalized patients, less is known about the role these interventions play on outcomes in patients in the community. Objective: The objective of this systematic review is to evaluate the current evidence on nutrition interventions’ impact on health and nutrition outcomes among community-dwelling adults. Methods: This systematic review was performed using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Original studies of previously published research were identified by using a predefined search strategy. Articles identified through electronic and manual searches were compared against predefined study selection criteria. Results: Twenty articles were deemed eligible for inclusion. Most of the studies examined nutrition interventions through oral nutritional supplements, dietary advice, counseling, and home visits, and were conducted in subjects who either had or were at risk of malnutrition. Nutrition interventions were found to improve anthropometrics (body weight), nutritional and functional status, energy and protein intake, and muscle strength (handgrip strength). However, their impact was inconclusive for body composition, quality of life, readmissions, complications/morbidity, and mortality, mainly due to a limited number of studies. Conclusion: Nutrition interventions were found to improve health and nutrition outcomes among community-dwelling adults. Future research is needed to examine the pervasiveness of malnutrition in the community, to evaluate the impact that nutrition interventions have on improving health outcomes in this population, and to inform the design of novel nutrition-focused intervention programs for adults living in different community settings to improve outcomes.