Title : High prevalence of undernutrition and low dietary diversity in institutionalised elderly living 1 in Sri Lanka 2 Kumari

16 17 This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial and 18 not-for-profit sectors. The authors wish to thank the participants, administrators and caregivers of 19 the homes for elders for their enthusiastic cooperation and also the Nutrition Research Team of the 20 Department of Applied Nutrition, Wayamba University of Sri Lanka, for their valuable assistance 21 during the course of the study. The authors also wish to thank Mr. S. Rahanan for coordination and 22 the assistance given in data collection especially in Tamil speaking participants. K.M.R designed 23 and managed the study, interpreted the data and drafted the manuscript. M.P.P.M contributed to the 24 data collection, data analysis and coordination of the study. M.W, K.G.J and J.A.L assisted in data 25 interpretation and critical revision of the manuscript. The authors declare that there is no conflict of 26 interest of any kind involved in this study or this publication. 27 Ethical clearance for this study was obtained from the Ethical Review Committee of the Sri Lanka 28 Medical Association (ERC/13-037). 29 30