Prevention, prevention, prevention: nutrition for successful aging.

e p s S i o a l a i p T m t a f “location, location, location” is the real estate axiom, “prevention, prevention, prevention” is the nutrition mantra for successful aging. Alarms are sounding as edicare and Medicaid costs for older people and poor eople explode. Nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office ata show that if nothing changes, skyrocketing health are costs could consume the entire federal budget by the ear 2050 (1). Thus, the multiple facets of nutrition comrising primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention (Figre) recently have been “discovered” as our nation adresses not only its obesity epidemic, but also its mpending age wave (2,3). Although there are several utrition prevention models and there is overlap in all of hem, the Figure depicts a spectrum of nutrition as preention in relation to aging (4,5). Prevention at long last has taken center stage nationlly, and nutrition has become part of or has received ncreased emphasis in all recent major health-promotion nd risk-reduction initiatives. This underscores the growng national awareness of nutrition’s vital role in preventng, delaying onset of, and managing costly and debilitatng chronic diseases. The 2005 Dietary Guidelines for mericans (6) recognize people over age 50 years as one of he specific population groups that need special considertion. The additional key recommendations provided for hem are in sync with the overall Dietary Guidelines’ mphasis on the promotion of health and the prevention f disease. Steps to a HealthierUS, a US Department of ealth and Human Services initiative, encourages Amercans to live longer, better, and healthier lives by eating a utritious diet as one of its four Steps (7). The Older mericans Update 2006: Key Indicators of Well-Being ists dietary quality and obesity as two of the seven modfiable health risks and behaviors (8). The 2005 White ouse Conference on Aging included a nutrition recom-