Under-eating is a mental illness in the elderly.

• Yes, this is definitely not normal behaviour.

• This usually occurs in frail older people with other illnesses or dementia.

• It is a common learned abnormal behaviour in the elderly reinforced by society and families who believe that older people don’t need to eat much.

• This food refusal, eating way less than they need to maintain health, and self- starvation is very common and leads to catastrophic outcomes.

• The common unrealistic and ridiculous reasons why these elderly people refuse to eat when they are already starving themselves to death and rapidly losing weight include-

  • I’m not hungry.

  • I can’t eat larger meals.

  • I just don’t want to eat.

  • I don’t need to eat much.

  • I’ve always been a small eater.

  • I don’t need a lot of food.

  • I don’t do much so I don’t need to eat.

  • A small biscuit and a cup of tea is plenty for dinner.

  • My main meal is dry crackers and a slice of cheese for lunch.

  • I split my frozen meal in half- that’s plenty.

• There is usually no reason why non-demented, non depressed older people cannot eat proper meals and have enough food! They just think it and believe it!

For more information read Dr Peter Lipski’s book “Your Elderly Parents Failing Health. Is It Ageing Or A Treatable Condition”.