Prevention of malnutrition in older people during and after hospitalisation: results from a randomised controlled clinical trial.

Objective: to prevent the occurrence of weight loss during hospitalisation and following discharge by daily oral supplementation.

Design: in a prospective, randomised, controlled study of 80 patients aged 75 or more, and at risk of undernutrition based on their initial Mini Nutritional Assessment score, patients were randomised into a control group or one receiving oral supplementation. The intervention was a prescription of 200 ml sweet or salty sip feed twice daily (500 kcal, 21 g protein per day) throughout hospitalisation and convalescence.