From the U.S. Government Accountability Office, www.gao.gov Transcript for: Nutrition Assistance for Older Adults Description: We discuss federal efforts to provide nutrition assistance for older Americans - a segment of the population that often requires different dietary needs than other segments. Related GAO Work: GAO-20-18: Nutrition Assistance Programs: Agencies Could Do More to Help Address the Nutritional Needs of Older Adults Released: December 2019 [ Background Music ] [ Kathy Larin: ] The federal government plays a key role, not only in setting nutritional guidelines, but also in providing nutrition assistance to this population. [ Matt Oldham: ] Welcome the GAO's Watchdog Report, your source for news and information from the U.S. Government Accountability Office. I'm Matt Oldham. Department of Health and Human Services data show the majority of older Americans have chronic conditions, like diabetes or heart disease, and these conditions often require specific dietary needs. With me is Kathy Larin, an Education, Workforce, and Income Security director to talk about a GAO report on federal efforts to address these different nutritional needs for older adults. Thanks for joining me, Kathy. [ Kathy Larin: ] Thanks for having me. [ Matt Oldham: ] So, could you talk about some of the differences here? [ Kathy Larin: ] Yeah, so the federal nutrition guidelines do recognize that older adults have different nutritional needs than say children or young adults. For example, older adults tend to have a smaller appetite, so it's more challenging for them to get the nutrients they need when they're eating less food. But the nutrition guidelines do have some weaknesses, they don't recognize the differences between say a 60 year old and a 90 year old. Within the older adult population, there may be very different nutritional needs. And as you said, they also don't recognize the nutritional needs of people with chronic health conditions, like diabetes and heart disease. People with chronic health conditions represent a majority of older adults. [ Matt Oldham: ] You mentioned nutritional guidelines, these are set by a federal agency? [ Kathy Larin: ] Now federal agencies do revisit and revise the nutritional guidelines periodically and the Department of Health and Human Services does have plans to focus on older adults in a future update. Federal agencies play another really important role in nutrition assistance though, and that is by providing nutrition assistance programs. We identified six federal programs administered by either USDA or HHS and four of those programs have nutritional requirements. [ Matt Oldham: ] Now, are USDA or HHS dealing with any challenges? [ Kathy Larin: ] Yeah, absolutely. Providers of nutrition assistance programs face a number of challenges; one of those is just the increasing size of the aging population. As more and more people become older adults and become eligible for these programs, reaching them and getting them the services they can benefit from is a big challenge. Another is being able to tailor the foods that are provided to the specific dietary needs of participants, including those with health conditions. [ Background Music ] [ Matt Oldham: ] So, it sounds like between USDA and HHS, some of the challenges that they're looking at today could become bigger tomorrow. You're talking about more and more Americans aging into this segment of the population. So Kathy, what could HHS or USDA do to improve things? [ Kathy Larin: ] We identified a number of ways that both USDA and HHS can make some improvements that can help improve the nutritional outcomes for older adults, both by improving their oversight of the federal nutrition programs, and by providing more information to providers to help them tailor their meals to meet the specific needs of participants. [ Matt Oldham: ] So, Kathy, last question, what's the bottom line of this report? [ Kathy Larin: ] The U.S. population is aging. By 2030, one in five adults will be over the age of 65, and eating a nutritious diet is critical for people to be able to maintain their health, their activity levels, and their quality of life. So, the federal government plays a key role here, not only in setting nutritional guidelines, but also in providing nutrition assistance to this population. So, the bottom line is by implementing our recommendations, they can better assure that older adults have the nutrition that they need. [ Matt Oldham: ] Kathy Larin was talking about a GAO report on federal oversight of nutrition assistance programs for older Americans. Thank you for your time, Kathy. [ Kathy Larin: ] Thank you. [ Matt Oldham: ] And thank you for listening to the Watchdog Report. To hear more podcasts, subscribe to us on Apple podcasts. Make sure you leave a rating and review to let others known about the work we're doing. For more from the Congressional Watchdog, the U.S. Government Accountability Office, visit us at gao.gov.