A growing number of elderly people in the Bay are suffering malnutrition and may become too weak to eat properly.

That's the warning today from leading dietitian Fiona Boyle, who believes two-thirds of fully dependent elderly people in Bay rest homes and private hospitals are malnourished.

The registered private dietitian and nutritionist is a top-level guest speaker at a conference at Baycourt tomorrow that highlights the nutritional risks the elderly face.

"As many as 60 per cent of our elderly in rest homes and private hospitals who are Category 5 patients would have malnutrition," she said, "and about 30 per cent of patients in our hospitals and nursing homes would have some form of clinical malnutrition.  

Category 5 patients are fully nurse dependent, requiring a hospital level of care.

Fiona Boyle is one of six top-level speakers at the "Nutrition for Positive Ageing" conference, providing information designed to assist health professionals, carers of the elderly, community workers who are caregivers, as well as GPs.

"We are trying to push the importance of nutrition. Recent reports from the UK and Europe estimate that malnutrition costs twice as much (to treat) as obesity," she said.

Malnutrition is particularly serious in the older age group and it's been suggested that hospitals should start weighing and measuring elderly patients on admission to health services, conduct screening at first appointments and employ specialist nutrition support nurses.

"Data from New Zealand is sparse but dietitians working in the aged care sector are very concerned that many older people who are thin and frail are not getting access to dietetic services early enough. And, by the time they are referred to dietitians, it can be too late for any properly planned nutrition intervention to have a chance of success."

She said there is a huge gap between dietetic services provided in public hospitals and those provided in nursing homes. The latter usually have to buy their dietetic services and this may be regarded as an expensive extra.

However, appropriate and timely nutrition intervention can slow the rate of decline, improve health outcomes or enhance nutritional/health status and be money well spent in the long term, she said.

In many cases, there was insufficient staff to properly feed patients who could not feed themselves, she said.

"It is not the quality of food on offer - it's more staff levels and available time. There can be a lack of awareness of the impact malnutrition can have."

It can exacerbate existing problems such as depression and mobility, reduce patients' ability to chew, increase the risk of infection and weaken them so they cannot fight illness as well as a well-nourished person might.

There is also more likelihood of pressure sores, which become harder to heal.

"We are looking at the overall needs of the elderly ... " The New Zealand Nutrition Foundation, a non-profit organisation that works with the food industry, Ministry of Health and other health promotion agencies, in association with the New Zealand Dietetic Association and the New Zealand Association of Gerontology, is presenting the conference.

Speakers include geriatrician Dr Elizabeth Spellacy, dietitians Fiona Boyle, Sally Watson and Julian Jensen, speech language therapist Kim Tucker and Dr Bevan Grant, director of sport and leisure studies at Waikato University.